Silence
by MyNameIsCAL
Summary: Five years since Max has seen the flock. The FBI finds them as survivors of a fire in a mental hospital and tells Max. They're broken and scarred for life,but Max knows she can find who they used to be. FAX and Niggy. Read the in depth summary in Ch1!
1. Chapter 1

**Silence –Chapter 1**

By MyNameIsCAL

**You should read all this stuff in bold. It's important.**

*****In-depth Summary*****

**The flock, minus Max, were put into a mental hospital by Itex when they were kidnapped five years ago. When the mental hospital burns down, the FBI gets involved and finds Fang, Iggy, and Nudge. Knowing Max has been looking for them, they contact her and they are reunited. But things have changed. They have spent five years being told that what they thought used to be didn't exist and are untrusting, each of them choosing different ways to cope. Something happened to Gazzy and Angel and Max must piece the stories from each of the remaining flock members to figure out what happened while she also helps them to recover. They also play vital roles in the trial to bring Itex down. **

**If you are familiar with my The Disbanded: Divided We Stand story, Ted will return in this story as a character, but who he was in The Disbanded story will not relate to who he is in this story, so no prior knowledge of my other story is needed. This is just to clear up confusion for those of you who have read The Disbanded.**

**This is basically another one of my stories where I take the characters and their backgrounds and run with an idea. Let's not worry about what happened in the books except that they still have wings and instead of them being public, the public knows nothing about the flock until things in this fic happen. Perhaps this will be the first fic that doesn't involve Ella and Mom. I'm going to write another story, probably soon, that branches off of the newest Max Ride book ****Fang****, so stay tuned for that.**

**Well, I hope that all makes sense. And as always, I do not own these characters (as much as we'd like to own Fang and Iggy and the rest of the flock). They belong to Mr. James Patterson and I shall be forever grateful to him. **

**Thank you!**

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---Max's POV---

Five years. Was it five years already since I had last seen the flock? Five years since I kissed Fang or had his arms around me? That long since Iggy and he were fighting over what Gazzy had mocked in their voices? It felt only like yesterday that Nudge was running her mouth about something, only yesterday that I had to force Angel to get out of bed. Yesterday, or five years, time went by too fast and too slow.

I must have spent a year, wandering the US, looking for them. Eventually, I had no choice but to seek help. I knew there was no way I could ever do it alone, but I was used to bad luck, so I hadn't expected much. And then I met this FBI agent in training. If it weren't for him, I'd probably be dead or still wandering aimlessly through Northern America.

His name was Theodore. Teddy, as I would call him. He was sweet and charming, but he wasn't Fang. To me, he was more of a brother. Teddy wasn't old enough to be an agent when I first met him, just working for the FBI as a cop, so his job was to look after me. We became friends because of that. Maybe he was the only person I really trusted right now with everything going on.

"The media doesn't know anything," he told me as he walked into the room.

"Then what do you know that they don't?" I questioned.

He set the pizza box on the coffee table. "Captain just called me. Some mental hospital, I don't remember where now, but it was set on fire and apparently Itex was holding its experiments there. They've got a few survivors, but so far they're unidentified. He'll update me when he knows more."

That flame of hope seemed to be sparked again, but it seemed like every day it would reignite before a strong gust of disappointment would put it out again.

"Jeez, this pizza is cold. I'll warm it up in the oven," Teddy rolled his eyes. "If you didn't live so damn far from the city."

I laughed. It always bugged him that I lived up in the mountains. But to me, it was the closest thing that felt like home since the flock wasn't around. Sometimes I would fly out to the place where I flew with those hawks and Fang.

"Have you ever been to New York?" he questioned after a while.

"A long time ago," I replied, remembering how the flock and I had slept on the branches of the trees in Central Park.

"They have the best pizza there," he said quickly. Teddy never lingered on the things that he knew reminded me of the flock. I would never admit it to him, but I still spent a lot of nights crying, wishing for the impossible.

We sat at the table, waiting for the pizza to finish warming up.

"So, how are things, up here?" Teddy grinned.

"Same as always," I frowned.

He gave me a more serious look. "Hey, you should get out more often. You live outside of LA. Go to the beach or something. I feel bad showing up and dragging you out places."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't even bother going out if it weren't for you."

"I'm sorry, Max." He looked sympathetic now.

Before I could say anything else, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

* * *

We were speeding towards the hospital, Teddy's sirens blaring.

"Jeez, slow down," I said. Somehow speeding down the freeway at a hundred miles per hour was scarier than plummeting down towards the ground.

"You've been waiting five years to find them," he breathed out. "I'm gonna get you there as fast as I can."

The hospital was swarmed with FBI agents. Teddy always had a sense of direction, even if he had no idea where he was going. It wasn't long before we saw Captain marching towards us.

"We only have three of them," he said. Captain had one of those low, scratchy voices.

"Three?" Teddy seemed just as concerned as I was.

"They're the only survivors," Captain continued to explain. "One of them is in surgery right now. The other two are being kept in one of the rooms. I'll take them to you, c'mon."

Only three? My heart sank.

Iggy and Nudge sat in an empty doctor's office when we walked in. She immediately sprung up and hugged me, but Iggy, he wasn't so trusting.

"I burned that place to the fucking ground!" He laughed hysterically. "Nudge, what the hell are you doing?! It's another trap!"

"Iggy, shut up, it's Max!" Nudge sobbed.

I wrapped my arms around her, tears streaming down my face. She shook against me, crying. "Max, the doctors took Fang away. Is he going to be okay?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Captain nodding.

"Yeah, he'll be just fine." Fang was here. Making three. Gazzy and Angel. What happened to them?

"Nudge, get away from them!" Iggy growled, standing up.

"Ig, really, it's me," I cried.

He started towards me, walking into the desk and swearing.

"Iggy, we've finally been saved!" Nudge let go of me.

"Then if you're really Max…" He trailed off into jibberish. At first, I didn't comprehend. He wasn't speaking English. English was the only language I knew! And then I remember. It was our language. The one we had made up so many years ago.

I answered him and he fell back into his chair, crying too.

* * *

Nudge still had her motor mouth. She told me they hadn't seen Gazzy and Angel in a long time. Nudge claimed the scientists deemed Angel dangerous with her mind reading and mind control powers. When they tried to take her away, Gazzy tried to attack them and they were both dragged out, never to be seen again. That took a long time to let sink it. And then there was Iggy. He still was untrusting of the agents.

"Sometimes I think he's gone insane," Nudge whispered as we sat, waiting for Fang to come out of surgery. "I don't know how he got those matches, but he started the fire with his bed sheets. He laughed madly all the way out as we escaped. Max, it doesn't even faze him that he killed people."

I stared at Iggy who was now asleep, slouched in his chair.

"For a while, he was convinced that everything was a lie," Nudge explained. "He would lash out at everyone. Itex stuck us there to torture us, to try to make us believe that we were just crazy. Of course I never believed them. After Iggy and Fang got into a fight, Ig started to believe me again. He's got a temper now. I'd be careful."

"And Fang?" I was anxious to hear about him.

Nudge shook her head. "He doesn't talk anymore, Max. I haven't heard him speak a single word since we got stuck there. Out of all of us, he's been through the most. They'd beat us for not doing what we're told and Fang always took the blame or the beatings for us. I don't think we would have survived without him."

I didn't know what to say to that.

"I'm sorry, Max," Nudge said, leaning against me. "I wish I had better news for you."

I put an arm around her. "I'm just glad you're here now, safe with me."

* * *

**And so that's the first chapter. I sort of just threw that together in one day. I hope the rest of the story will turn out ok. The story will become more focused on Max and Fang's relationship, but don't worry, I won't forget about the other characters either. Since Fang isn't talking right now, I've decided the title shall be Silence. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Silence – Chapter 2**

By MyNameIsCAL

---Max's POV---

Teddy gave me the rundown of Fang's injuries. He had been shot in both legs. Nudge and Iggy had carried him out of the fire. They later told me Fang was trying to save them.

"He should be okay," Teddy assured me. "The damage shouldn't be permanent. As you've told me before, you guys tend to heal faster and better."

I nodded, still thinking things through. "And when will I be able to take them home?"

He had to take a moment to answer. "I'll have to talk to Captain about that, but soon, I promise."

"Alright, thanks, Teddy," I smiled.

He shook his head. "What are you thanking me for, it's my job. And you oughta go to Fang's room. He should be awake soon and Iggy and Nudge are already in there."

As I approached Fang's room, it sounded like he was awake already. Iggy and Nudge were talking to him, both with different views of their situation.

"Fang, I promise we're safe!" Nudge exclaimed. "Max is here! And she says that these people are going to help us."

Iggy spoke as if he was the one that had thought things through. There was still anger in his voice. "I don't know about this, Fang. I mean, it really is Max, I'm sure of it. I just don't know if all these people are to be trusted. Maybe we should get out of here when you're done recovering. What do you think?"

I walked in and their conversation stopped.

"Hi, Max!" Nudge grinned.

Slowly, I approached Fang's beside. He looked up at me, his eyes showing caution, trying to decide whether I was to be trusted or not.

"Fang…" I couldn't get any other words out as my throat choked up, tears already welling up. How long had I been waiting for this moment?

His eyes softened and he reached for my hand, tears began to roll down his cheeks, bruised and cut. He squeezed my hand, and I collapsed into the chair, crying.

"Well, I think we have his decision," Nudge said to Iggy. "I think he's taken my side for once."

Iggy's voice seemed to lighten up. "I guess so."

* * *

With Fang's approval, Iggy and Nudge agreed to stay with me. Well, it was only really Iggy who was putting up a fight. The hospital made Fang anxious and Nudge, well, she just wanted to go somewhere nice, away from doctors and FBI agents. She had grown up a lot, but she still seemed like a little kid.

"Max, your house is so big!" Nudge said, bursting through the doors.

I pushed Fang through the door.

"Tell me this place will be easy to figure out," Iggy grumbled as he bumped into the hall.

"If you need anything, call me, ok?" Teddy said, still standing in the doorway. "I'll be back with food."

"Thanks, Teddy."

This time he smiled, instead of insisting it was his job like he always did. He closed the door and I heard the car drive away down the dirt path.

"Who is he?" Iggy questioned immediately. Everything that came out of Iggy's mouth was either a complaint or an accusation.

"That's Teddy," I answered, trying not to sound fed up. "I guess you could call him my bodyguard."

Iggy frowned. "Are you two like together or something?"

Fang threw a punch at Iggy. If Fang wasn't in a wheelchair, I think Iggy might have tackled him back.

"No," I replied. "But I'd be dead if it weren't for him. He helped launch the investigation to look for you."

"See," Iggy said, rubbing his arm. "I told you so."

Fang sighed.

"Well, you guys can all have your own rooms," I said, pushing Fang down the hall. "Pick whichever one you want."

Nudge ran past me down the hall. She picked the one next to the bathroom. Iggy shuffled into the room next to hers.

"Which one do you want, Fang?" I asked, knowing he wasn't going to answer me in words anyway.

He shrugged and I continued to push him past all of them. I had purposely bought a house that would fit the entire flock. Fang looked into all the rooms, but shook his head at all of them. And then I realized that Iggy and Nudge had taken the two biggest rooms other than my room, which was the master bedroom. There wouldn't be much space for him in the others with his wheelchair.

"I'll tell you what," I said. "You can have my bedroom. Besides, it's got the most comfortable bed anyway."

Fang shook his head, but now I knew he was just being stubborn.

"We're going to have to get you all clothes later," I said, leaving him by the window that overlooked out to the town below.

"I'm going to check on the others, will you be okay here?"

He nodded and I left him, staring out the window.

"Max, can I talk to you?" Iggy stuck his head out of his room.

I entered his room. He put his hand on the wall and frowned. "Can we repaint the wall? I was thinking maybe a dark red or orange."

"Sure, whatever you want, Ig," I told him.

"Well, that's not really what I wanted to talk to you," Iggy went on, sitting on the bed. "I figured I'd tell you about why Fang doesn't talk."

"So now you're going to talk to me?" I didn't understand.

Iggy's eyes slipped in an out of focus, still that shade of pale blue. "Well, Max, I'm putting trust into you now, so maybe you should just listen to what I've got to say."

I took a deep breath and let it out. It took a lot out of me trying not to get mad at Iggy for his ungratefulness. "Ok, I'm listening."

"They did things to Fang there," Iggy started to tell me. "Unthinkable, unspeakable things. Things I can't even think about thinking about or telling you about without driving a hole through something. Nudge seems to have blocked all of it out because it's easier for her to cope that way. But for a while, Itex was angry they didn't get you and they used to beat Fang up, torture him, to tell them where you might have ran off to, but he refused. His vow of silence was to protect you, to protect the rest of us. Nudge isn't totally right about him not talking ever since we got stuck there. I talked to him on a few occasions, but his real vow of silence came after they took Angel and Gazzy away. The last time he ever spoke to me, and that was a hell of a long time ago, he told me that no one would ever get another word out of him until he found you and Angel and Gazzy."

"Why?" I asked.

"Because those crazy Itex doctors who were supposedly treating us got it into his head that he would never be able to do what he wanted," Iggy responded. "But out of all the things they tried to drill into his head, they always said that he would never _ever_ find you. And you could say, out of all of us, he was the only one that didn't give up. He is the only reason Nudge and I survived. I just thought that you should know that."

"Thank you, Ig."

But he changed the subject quickly. "And Nudge wants her room repainted too."

He had a lot of anger still burning inside, but I had to say, after all this time, he still had a way to make people laugh, or at least smile, even if they didn't want to.

* * *

Fang refused to take the painkillers the doctors gave him, partly because Iggy was still convinced that someone was going to betray us. As much as Fang tried to hide it, he was in a lot of pain. Getting him into bed had proved that much. The slightest bending of his legs made him wince and it was impossible to keep them straight as the two of us struggled. I felt bad for him, wishing it was me instead of him.

"Are you comfortable?" I questioned him.

He nodded.

"Are you sure?"

He nodded again.

"Alright, well if you need anything…" I trailed off. "Just throw something at the door. Goodnight, Fang."

But he grabbed my wrist.

"Is there something else you need?"

He pointed to the other side of the bed.

"You wanna sleep on that side?" I questioned.

He shook his head frustrated and pulled my wrist again.

And then I understood, or so I thought so. "No, it's really alright. I'll go sleep in one of the other rooms."

He rolled his eyes, pulling my wrist again.

I got into bed next to him and he turned off the light. We laid there, both of us still awake. It felt like nothing had changed between us, even though it had been five years since we had seen each other. I curled up next to him and he put an arm around me. His breathing slowed after a while and he was sleep, but I still lay there, thinking.

* * *

**I was thinking that I was just going to keep this entire story as Max's POV, but now that I thought about it, maybe we need to see into Fang's POV too because he doesn't talk. What do you all think? And thanks for reading, as always!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Silence – Chapter 3**

By MyNameIsCAL

**I'm going to hold off on Fang's POV for now, but it'll come in time when his thoughts, views, and story are necessary or needed. Thank you.**

---Max's POV---

The next morning, I lay awake with Fang, talking to him. I told him what happened, or at least what I could remember, of the past five years.

"I just really missed you," I finished.

He found my hand under the blankets and squeezed it.

I smiled and we lay there like that for a while.

"How're you feeling today?" I asked, wishing he might respond for once by talking, although I knew he wouldn't.

He shrugged. Even if he was talking, he wouldn't have told me the truth anyway.

"You want something to eat? I can bring food here or we can go to the kitchen," I offered.

He sat up and pointed to the door.

"You sure?"

He nodded.

I helped him into his wheelchair and pushed him down the hall. Iggy and Nudge sat there, eggs already on the table.

"Oh wow, you cooked," I commented.

Iggy rolled his eyes. "Not like you can cook."

"C'mon, Ig, it's been five years since we saw Max. Maybe she can cook," Nudge insisted.

The truth was I really couldn't still. I ordered food, ate out, or if for some reason I got stuck at the house because Captain wanted me to stay put, Teddy would cook.

"Your friend stopped by," Iggy was already moving the conversation along.

Nudge sighed. "Iggy's just being a pain in the ass today."

Iggy shut his mouth after that.

"He said he'd be back later," she added.

I sat down next to Fang and piled some eggs onto a plate for him. Iggy excused himself from the table, trudging off to his room.

Fang gave Nudge a questioning look.

"He doesn't like Teddy," Nudge replied. "Thinks he's going to hurt us or something."

Fang shook his head.

"But I'm guessing you don't think that about Teddy," Nudge said hesitantly. "Do you trust him?"

He nodded this time.

Somehow that was a relief to know.

* * *

Iggy and Nudge were outside, flying, as I sat on the couch with Fang. He was asleep, head rested on my leg for a pillow. We had been sitting on the couch before, drawing random pictures on a notepad I had found. Teddy showed up around noon.

"What am I gonna do when this is all over?" Teddy laughed, handing me a soda as he sat down in the armchair.

"Well, I'm sure they'll give you a better job than babysitting us," I laughed.

"I don't mind it actually," he told me with a sad smile. "I might miss it."

Teddy's eyes met mine, an intense blue unlike Iggy's pale eyes, just for a moment, and then he looked away.

"Well, you know, you're welcomed around anytime you want to come," I assured him.

He sipped his soda, staring out the window at Iggy and Nudge flying. Something was troubling him. Before I could ask, he started to tell me how things were going in the investigation.

"Captain wants to question Fang and Iggy and Nudge," he went on. "And Angel and Gazzy are still missing. Maybe we can piece together their stories to figure out what happened. We can send someone here to question them or bring them over to the headquarters."

"I think here would be better," I said.

"I figured," Teddy nodded. "I gotta head over there now. I'll see you later. Probably tomorrow."

"Alright, I'll see ya later then."

He gave me a small smile and stood. I listened to him get into his car, driving away down the unpaved road.

Fang opened his eyes suddenly and looked up at me.

"Well, good morning," I joked.

He sat up and scrawled something on the notepad.

_I think he likes you_.

"I know," I responded. "Everyone thinks that."

* * *

Iggy didn't really want to tell the FBI anything. It took a lot of convincing on Nudge's part and glares from Fang. We must have spent an hour arguing with him.

"Captain won't let you guys leave the house until you've all been questioned," Teddy reminded them.

"Yeah, c'mon, Ig. I'll take you out. We can go shopping, get some food, repaint your room like you wanted to," I promised him.

"Maybe Max can take us to the beach!" Nudge exclaimed. "You kept saying the first place you wanted to go after we escaped was gonna be the beach!"

"Alright, fine," Iggy finally agreed. I got the feeling he was only agreeing because of Nudge.

Fang let out a sigh.

Teddy led Iggy into one of the unused bedrooms to start questioning. The rest of us waiting until he was done. Today was going to be a long day. Fang pulled himself out of his wheelchair and sat next to me on the couch, his head resting on my shoulder.

* * *

**Next chapter, we'll see some insight into what happened to Fang, Iggy, and Nudge. Thanks for reading!!!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Silence – Chapter 4**

By MyNameIsCAL

**You may find this chapter slightly boring as it is packed with a lot of what happened to Fang. I'm hoping in the future of this story, it will be important, but you know, I always make things up and they become irrelevant later. Haha, alright, enough rambling from me. **

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* * *

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---Fang's POV---

I asked them to let Max sit in on my questioning. The agent was hesitant, but Teddy convinced him. And by the way, I didn't have a problem with Teddy. If Max trusted him, then I would too.

"I'm Special Agent Benson," the agent stuck out his hand.

I shook it.

"He doesn't talk," Teddy interrupted.

"He doesn't?" Benson raised an eyebrow. "Alright, then you can write your responses here."

The agent placed a notebook in front of me along with a pen.

"I need you to write your name."

I tried my best to make it look neat. _Fang_.

"Don't you got a last name? Actually, is that even your real name?"

This was going to end up being harder than I thought.

"A normal name, like John or Joe," he pressed on. The way he talked to me was like I didn't understand or something.

"Agent Benson," Teddy cleared his throat. "Fang here is fully competent and his last name doesn't matter."

Benson was being stubborn though, insisting he needed one for file, ignoring Teddy's protests.

"Alright, then we'll just make up one," Max cut in. She turned to me. "Make up one, whatever your heart desires. A movie star or some person from a far away country."

I stared at the paper for a moment and then wrote, _Ride_.

Max blushed, looking away with a growing smile.

"Ok, Mr. Ride, let's start with the beginning," Benson began. "How did you get separated from Max?"

_We were out to dinner one night, walking the streets of Los Angeles, trying to get back to our hotel when a van pulled up, attacked us,_ I wrote._ We got separated, pulled into the van. Max got away somehow. _

"And what happened after that?"

_They took us to the "hospital"._

"What did they do to you there?"

_They ran tests on us. Made us run in mazes, on treadmills, swim through ice cold water. We were like lab rats. And then they started to torture us._

"How?"

I closed my eyes and shook my head.

Benson frowned, but moved on. "And then you and the others you were with, you got split up, right? How did that happen?"

_Angel, she can read minds. They wanted to take her away, but her brother, Gazzy, knew that if we let them take her away, we would never see her again. Gazzy fought them and they just took both of them away, just like that. I tried to fight them too and they dragged me off._

"Where did they take you?"

_Into some room. It was dark. They beat me up, yelling at me that my entire life before had been a lie, or a hallucination. They told me until I could understand that, until I stopped fighting them, they would keep hurting me. They told me it was the only way. And when I refused to give into that, they tried to make me tell them where Max was and I wasn't going to tell them. I didn't know either._

"Did they do that to the others?"

_No. Iggy gave in easily. We fought a lot. I tried to convince him they were tricking us, and I got beaten up for that too. I tried to protect Nudge, and she pretended to go along with what they were telling us. They weren't interested in getting to Nudge either. Most of the time, they left her alone. I protected them by distracting the so called doctors there. After a while, Iggy realized what was going on. He went through these phases of trusting us and untrusting us. Those doctors messed with his head. They never tortured him like they did to me, but they injected him with stuff. He'd have these hallucinations and would go into rages, hurting Nudge and me. I think it's what drove him to set the fire that burned down the hospital. _

"Do you think he's okay now?"

_He's struggling. Iggy trusts Nudge and she's the best at convincing him to trust things. It's like he's two different people. Right now, he's Iggy, and in a couple of days, he's some mad, angry, raging psycho. _

Benson took a moment to think. "And they never injected you or Nudge?"

_I told you, I was tortured and Nudge pretended. _

"Tell me what they did to you."

I shook my head.

"How is that going to help?" Max interjected.

"Because there are cases where patients get beaten up in mental institutions. Maybe they got more people like Fang hidden in them," Benson replied.

He wanted to know what they did to me? Well I wasn't going to tell him. I was going to _show_ him.

"Fang, what are you doing?" Max looked shocked.

I began to pull off my shirt, revealing scars. Max had missed them. Actually, I had purposely made sure she never saw them. Benson flinched away. If I weren't some mutant-human bird freak, I would have been dead a long time ago. It was either luck or a curse that our bodies could heal us up nicely. The more injuries I suffered, the slower the healing process got.

"I'm sorry," Benson said, taking his notebook back. "I have no more questions. But if you can think of anything else you think that might help our investigation, please tell Teddy."

He hurried out of the room, Teddy at his heels.

I looked away from Max, pulling my shirt back on.

"Fang," she said softly, her hand on my arm.

I was crying now.

She pulled me into a hug. "I didn't think it had been that bad. I'm sorry, Fang."

I shook against her, burying my face into her shoulder.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Silence – Chapter 5**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

It's been a few days now since Agent Benson came to question them. Before he left, the agent took names down for their files. Fang was now officially Fang Ride. Iggy was disappointed to hear that his real name, James Griffiths, would stick. As for Nudge, it took her a long time to decide. In the end, she combined Nudge with her real name, Monique, and ended up with Nudge Monique. By the end of the day, Iggy was fuming that he was going to go legally change his name.

As the days went on, Fang has been struggling. He didn't sleep much or eat a lot. Even Iggy sensed it through his rage.

"He doesn't want to get better," Iggy told me one night as we sat up awake outside, Fang leaning against me asleep. "He feels responsible for Gazzy and Angel. We got out, but they're still out there somewhere. It's like, I don't know, survivor's guilt? He doesn't think he deserves to be alive."

I frowned. Maybe if he talked, he'd be better off. Fang was stubborn though.

"I mean, I don't mean to be the pessimist, but what are the chances that we'll ever find them?" Iggy went on, his voice getting louder.

Nudge took Iggy's arm and leaned against him. He shut his mouth, distracted by her. No matter how angry Iggy got, she still had a way to calm him down.

"C'mon, it's late," Nudge soothed. "And we have to go with Fang to the hospital in the morning."

She pulled him off the bench and led him back into the house, leaving me alone with Fang.

"We'll find them," I whispered, running my fingers through Fang's hair. "Everything's gonna be okay, Fang. I promise."

* * *

Teddy took us to the hospital the next day. I wanted to drive, but Teddy insisted that Captain didn't want us out without an agent with us, in other words, we couldn't leave the house without Teddy. Needless to say, Iggy wasn't too happy.

"The doctor wanted to see you and Nudge too," Teddy spoke to Iggy. "But I'm guessing you don't really want to get psychologically evaluated, so I'm giving you the option of sitting here with me in the car when Max and Fang go in."

You could almost see Iggy trying to resist showing his annoyance. "Alright, thanks."

I helped Fang out of the car and into his wheelchair. His legs shook as he had a few seconds of putting weight on them.

"We'll be out of here before you know it," I said, trying to smile.

He pushed the car door closed and waited for me to wheel him towards the hospital. Today would be the start of a long day.

The doctor took x-rays of Fang's legs, showing us that the damage seemed to be healing, but slowly. Fang seemed uninterested though. He refused the pain medication the doctor offered to prescribe him too.

"You've been through a lot," the doctor said as we sat in his office. "I think it might be a good idea to see a psychologist. I can appoint you one, if you'd like."

Fang shook his head.

"I think we'll pass on that, Doc," I said.

The doctor frowned, but let us goes on our way, making today's two hour visit a complete waste of time.

* * *

Nudge ran off with Iggy, their pockets now stuffed with some cash I gave them.

"I'll go watch them," Teddy sighed. "But I'll keep my distance, don't worry. You two can take care of yourselves, right?"

I smiled. "Of course we can, isn't that right, Fang?"

He shrugged, unenthusiastically.

"I'll call you when they're done," Teddy said, heading in their direction. "Or you call me when you're done."

I waved at him and started to push Fang in the opposite direction.

"So, what do you want to do first?" I asked, looking around. "Clothes, food, music, coffee?"

He shrugged again.

"C'mon, Fang," I sighed.

He looked up at me, frowning.

"Alright, fine, I'll pick where we go first," I let out a breath. "Music, clothes, food or coffee, whichever you prefer. How's that sound?"

He nodded and so we were off.

* * *

I sat with Fang at the coffee place, waiting for Nudge and Iggy to come with Teddy. We had a couple of bags of clothes for Fang. All of it was black, of course. He got some music too. I was hoping maybe it would help him sleep.

"Is there anything else you need before we go back home?" I asked.

He sipped his coffee and then pulled out his pad of paper.

_Advil_.

"That's not going to do anything for you," I told him.

He shook his head.

"You don't trust the doctor, do you?" I realized.

His eyes met mine, full of sadness and anger and confusion. I wished there was more I could do for him.

* * *

**I had to go look up the stuff about Iggy and Nudge's real names since I don't really remember. I also found it interesting that Iggy Pop's real first name is James, as is Iggy in this story. Iggy also means "fiery one", which as you all know, Iggy's the blind pyro bird kid. Just an interesting tidbit there, I thought. Although, I'm sure some of you knew that already. Thanks so much for reading!  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**Silence – Chapter 6**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"HOW DO I KNOW YOU'RE NOT LYING TO ME?" Iggy roared. "Why should I trust you?"

He pointed at me, accusingly.

"Iggy," Nudge reached for his hand but he shook her off.

"You see what they're trying to do, Fang?" Iggy asked, his words speeding up. "They're tricking us. They're luring you in! Max is obviously brainwashed and they're using her to win you over because honestly, Fang, we all know you were heartbroken after losing her the first time."

"Iggy, stop it," Nudge pleaded.

You could almost see a fire burning in Iggy's eyes. He actually believed what he was saying. There was no reasoning with Iggy either. Ever since he woke up this morning, he's been like this. Everything we did somehow led to some conspiracy theory he had. Seeing him like this made me want to cry. I wanted to go and comfort him too, but I knew he would push me away.

And then Iggy got violent. Hastily, he made a grab for Fang, pulling him out of the wheelchair, a fist raised.

"You think you're silence is going to prove anything, Fang?" Iggy spat right into Fang's face. "I think you're a coward!"

Fang pulled his own fist back and punched Iggy in the face. I watched as Iggy crumpled to the ground, Fang standing with his legs shaking. After another second of staring at Iggy, Fang dropped back into his wheelchair.

"I don't think you're a coward," Nudge told Fang, looking sadly at Iggy.

Fang shook his head, wheeling himself down the hall into our room, slamming the door behind him.

Nudge took a seat on the floor next to Iggy, sighing. "I'm sorry, Max."

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

"I know this wasn't what you hoped for," she continued. "I mean, I thought when we got out of here, Iggy would get better and Fang would talk again. For a while, I even thought that maybe Gazzy and Angel had escaped and they were with you."

"I wish they had," I whispered.

"Me too."

"C'mon, let's get Iggy into his room."

* * *

Teddy knocked on the door around midnight. The others were asleep now. Iggy had refused to come out of his room, only talking to Nudge for the rest of the day. And Fang, well, he came out to eat, seemingly preoccupied about something.

"I got something to show you," Teddy said.

We sat at the kitchen table and he pulled out his laptop. He opened a folder and started to show me pictures.

"They're from the mental hospital," Teddy explained. "The basement was the only place the flames didn't reach. Iggy torched it to the ground. Yet the basement, look at all of this."

It looked like the school, white and sterile. Cages lined the walls, but they were empty.

"And then, you move into the other half of the basement, you get this." Teddy showed me the next few pictures. There were chains on the wall, like some kind of dungeon.

"There was fresh blood when we got there," he continued. "We matched it to Fang's blood. We think that's where he was shot because Iggy and Nudge said they dragged him up a flight of stairs. Our computer specialist also found files on the computer about Gazzy and Angel."

"What did those files say?"

"The files just said they were going to be 'fixed'," Teddy answered.

"Fixed?"

"I'm guessing you don't know what that means."

I shook my head.

He sighed. "Ask the others in the morning and let me know if they know anything."

"Of course."

He started to show me other pictures. "Whatever they did to Fang, it wasn't pleasant. We found all these weapons, torture devices, and chemicals."

I couldn't look at the pictures. There was dried blood everywhere. Teddy finally shut off the computer. "I just thought that you'd want to know."

My eyes were still closed. "Thank you, Teddy."

He squeezed my shoulder. "You're welcome. Do you need anything? I'll be back tomorrow."

"No," I told him, standing to show him to the door. He moved slowly towards the door, but I desperately wanted him to get out of there so he wouldn't see me cry.

Just as he was going to walk out the door, he turned to face me again. His arms suddenly came around me, pulling me into an embrace. It was all too much and I began to cry against his chest.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "But we're going to find them. I promise."

It suddenly felt like five years ago when I had first met him. I tried to pull myself together, but I only felt more tears flowing out. We stood there, like that, for a while, until I stopped crying. He pulled his arms back, slowly.

"Goodnight, Max," he said.

"Goodnight, Teddy," I murmured, watching him start to walk through the door again.

And then he bent down and kissed me on the lips before walking away to his car. I stared out for a while. Did he just do that?


	7. Chapter 7

**Silence – Chapter 7**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

I walked back to my room slowly, trying to absorb what had just happened. Teddy's feelings for me, I guess they were always that obvious, I had just gotten use to them. He knew that I was never going to fall for him though. Having those kinds of feelings for Teddy had never crossed my mind. My heart had always been set on Fang.

Speaking of Fang, he wasn't sleeping when I came into the room, but he sure was trying hard to pretend he was. I got into bed and stared at the ceiling for a while.

"Teddy just stopped by," I said, knowing he had heard us talking. "He said that the files they found about Angel say that they're going to get _fixed_. Do you know what that means?"

Fang shot up into sitting position, turning on the light on the bedside table. He grabbed his notepad and started to scrawl on it. As I sat up, he thrust it at me.

_FIXED = exterminating what makes any of Itex's experiments unique, eliminating special abilities if possible. For us, CUTTING OFF WINGS!_

"No…" I dropped the notepad.

Fang's eyes were dark and intense, staring into mine. There was no way he was mistaken.

"I have…I have to tell Teddy." My voice was shaking. The thought of anyone doing something so terrible to Gazzy and Angel made me sick.

Fang nodded and I reached for the phone. After one ring, Teddy picked up.

"Hey, Max, I'm sorry about –"

I cut him off. "Fang told me what _fixed_ meant."

"Oh?" Teddy's mind was somewhere else.

"Wings are what make us special, we can fly. Fixing Gazzy and Nudge means removing them…" I trailed off.

"That sounds…Horrifying," Teddy stuttered. "I'll inform Captain and get them to look through the rest of the files faster. We're gonna find them, I promise, Max."

He shouldn't be promising anything. Lucky for him, I didn't believe in promises all that much.

"Alright, thanks, Teddy," I breathed out.

"And Max?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about earlier. I wasn't really thinking."

"It's fine," I insisted. "Just…It never happened."

"Yeah, that's probably best," he agreed, sounding reluctant.

"Goodnight, Teddy."

"G'night, Max."

I hung up and settled back into bed, leaning up against Fang. He turned off the light and I could feel his arms come around me. In a few minutes, both of us were asleep.

* * *

It only felt like a few minutes later that Fang was shaking me awake. Yet when I had fallen asleep, it was dark. Looking outside, it seemed like the sun had been up for a while.

"What's wrong?" I yawned.

Fang pointed at his ear and then at the door. _Listen_, he almost seemed to be telling me, so I did listen. After a few seconds, I could pick up what he was hearing. There was someone down the hall, banging things in the kitchen.

"I'll be right back."

I tiptoed down the hall and stopped at the corner. The fact that I had to think about this just showed how out of practice I really was. When was the last time I threw a punch? Too long ago. Maybe since I lost the flock. Well, here went nothing. I pressed myself against the wall and then turned the corner, reading to grab or punch whoever was there.

But it was only Iggy.

"Ig, what are you doing?" I watched him pull plates and pots and pans out of the kitchen cabinets, letting them bang onto the floor, some breaking.

"Where is the fucking Advil!" he growled, still pulling things out. "If Fang wasn't so stupidly in love with you my head wouldn't hurt!"

"Why didn't you wake one of us?" I offered. "I would have been happy to get it for you."

"No!" He chucked a plate across the room. "I'm tired of not being able to do things, tired of people telling me what I can't do!"

"I never said…"

"You were thinking it!" Iggy threw another plate, this one missing me by inches and crashing in the hallway behind me.

Nudge came running out of her room, looking exhausted.

"I don't want to do what you're telling me!" he fumed. "You keep your needles away from me! You…"

He dropped the plate he was holding.

"No, you're…They're not here…" Iggy started to back up, finally running into the counter.

Nudge took a few steps towards him, reaching for his hand. "Ig, listen to me for a minute."

"No…I don't want to anymore," he squeaked, shaking her off.

"Do you know where we are?" Nudge asked, taking his hand again. "IGGY!"

"Nudge, they're going to get us. We're…They're…" It was clear that Iggy was confused.

"Iggy, we're not at the hospital anymore. There are no more doctors to inject with anything, no more doctors to take Fang and hurt him," Nudge said slowly. "We're at Max's house and she's protecting us. Don't you remember?"

The blaze of anger in Iggy's eyes before was now dissipating, like Nudge had thrown water at Iggy to burn it out. Still, Nudge looked like she was going to cry. "Don't you remember, Iggy?"

He didn't answer, leaning against the cabinets and sliding to the floor, tears streaming down his face. She sat next to him and he slouched over, leaning against her.

"Shhh, Iggy, it's okay," she said soothingly. "They'll never hurt you again."

I stood there, watching for a while until Fang wheeled up next to me. He looked at Iggy, a sad look on his face, almost pained. I wanted to break down and to cry too, watching them all on the verge of tears, but I was supposed to be the strong one. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Before I could open them, Fang had taken my hand. When I did open my eyes, Fang's eyes met mine.

_It'll be okay_, they seemed to be saying. _We'll be okay_.


	8. Chapter 8

**Silence – Chapter 8**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

Max ended up getting Teddy to bring us food since Iggy didn't want to cook, not that we had expected him to, but he usually liked to. Barely touching his food, Iggy left the table after only a few minutes of eating. Nudge shoved some food into her mouth and ran off after him, leaving Max and me alone.

"The FBI wants to ask you to do something," she breathed out.

I looked up at her. That must have been what she and Teddy were discussing in hushed voices. When I raised an eyebrow, she continued to speak.

"They want to take you back to the basement to see if you can remember anything else that's important."

I finished chewing and wiped my hand before scribbling on my notepad. _Okay_.

"You don't have to do it," she said.

_But we need to find Gazzy and Angel. Maybe I can remember something else_.

As much as Max didn't want me to suffer, I could tell she was torn. Gazzy and Angel needed help now. She couldn't choose my state of mind over them, and they were out there somewhere.

"I'll talk to Teddy and tell you about when he'll take you," Max said after a while.

I nodded and finished eating.

* * *

We crammed into the back of Teddy's car. Iggy didn't like the idea of going back, but he knew we had to do our best to try to help find Gazzy and Angel. He was almost as silent as me now, only answering to Nudge.

"Reality is only hitting him now," Nudge whispered, smoothing his hair as he slept against her in the car. "I'm not sure if he really knows what's real, what he's been dreaming, and what's in his past."

Max turned to face us since she was riding in the passenger seat. "Maybe you should stay in the car when Fang and I go in."

Nudge nodded. "I think he'll have another breakdown in there."

I leaned my head against the window. It was raining, the seasons were changing. Still, I had no sense of time. No one ever talked about the days, not even Max. Or maybe she didn't want to know how much time had gone by.

We reach the place, now only rubble and debris, burned and charred. You can smell the rotting wood. There are a couple of other cars here. Other FBI agents, I assumed. Max helped me out of the car. Teddy came around, holding out a pair of forearm crutches.

"I saved you the trouble of going to the doctor," he said.

"Thanks," Max told him, almost like she was answering for me.

I take them and follow them towards the remains of the building.

* * *

After looking around the room, watching parts of being tortured flash on the back of my eyelids every time I blinked, I sat on the table that for so many hours the scientists strapped me to, torturing me with whatever they could. When Teddy told me to close my eyes and try to remember, I went back to the pain, to the things they forced me to do. I didn't want to remember them. I wanted to forget them, but I kept searching, kept reliving everything…

"_You can't take her!" Gazzy screamed, trying to hold onto the guard._

_He shook Gazzy off with superhuman strength. Just another fallen victim to the crazy scientists' evil plans._

"_Gazzy, just let them take me!" Angel pleaded as he started to attack the guard again._

_And then, another guard came and snatched Gazzy up. They were like robots. _

"_NO!" I shouted, grabbing Gazzy. "NO! What are you going to do with them?"_

_The guard turned back to face me. "You won't need to worry about them anymore. We're going to take care of them, real good, don't you worry."_

_And then he started walking in the opposite direction, Gazzy gripping onto my arm, his nails digging into my skin._

"_NO! FANG DON'T LET THEM TAKE US!" Gazzy cried hysterically. That kid never sounded this terrified. _

_I threw myself at the guard, but he kicked me in the chest, sending me tumbling backwards against the wall._

"_You're all stubborn," the guard cackled. _

_I struggled to keep consciousness._

"_You'll join them too someday." The guard's voice was fading. "Someday in the army…fight…we're the…good…evil…"_

Max was shaking me awake, but I shot up into sitting position and grabbed the notepad out of her hands. I wrote what the guard said to me before I had lost consciousness that day. Max had her hand around my arm, a look of concern on her face.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, her hand sliding down my arm. "You were holding your wrist."

I lifted my arm, staring at it for a while. Those scars there, they were from Gazzy scratching me, begging me to save him, but I couldn't. I couldn't.

"Fang…" Max's voice seemed so far away.

I dropped the pad of paper and began to shake.

It took me a long time to realize that I was crying, Max's arms around me.

"I think we're done here," Max told Teddy.

He nodded, picking up the piece of paper. "C'mon, let's get you home."


	9. Chapter 9

**Silence – Chapter 9**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"They've always been telling us that they're the good guys," I said to Fang, his head rested on my leg for a pillow as I stroked his hair. "Jeb _always_ told us that."

He crumpled the paper, which he had been holding onto since Teddy gave it back to him in the car. I watched him throw it across the room, hitting Nudge who was fixated on watching the TV now that she could take a break from worrying about Iggy.

"Hey!" Nudge stuck her tongue out at Fang.

I laughed and for barely even a second, Fang showed the beginnings of a smile. It was a mystery to me about what had possessed him to do that. Before Nudge could retaliate, Iggy came into the room, shuffling towards Nudge. As he continued forward, he walked into the table, falling forward. Fang sat up and grabbed Iggy by the arm before he could hit the table.

He straightened up and continued around the table, not even acknowledging Fang. There was this look in his eyes, frustration or anger, but he said nothing as he sat down next to Nudge. That moment, only a minute ago, seemed like a dream now as Fang watched Iggy intently. He either looked like he was going to explode or cry again.

Nudge just curled up against him, seeming to melt his raging emotions. We watched him slouch into the couch, his arm finding its way around her.

"How was your nap?" Nudge asked.

Iggy frowned. "I didn't sleep much. Just, heard things."

"Like what?" Nudge urged him on.

"Screaming, shouting," Iggy muttered. "You didn't hear it?"

Nudge closed her eyes. "Iggy, are you sure it wasn't a dream?"

He shook his head. "It was coming from down the hall. I think those scientists…Hey, do you know where Fang is?"

"Iggy, he just stopped you from falling onto the table." Nudge sat up. It was clear that Iggy was having one of those moments where his mind wasn't here, it was stuck, in the past, still at the hospital.

"Table?" Iggy sounded confused, and then you could tell he suddenly realized what was happening.

"Oh, Ig," Nudge wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay, just, don't be upset."

He sucked in a breath, closing his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." Nudge looked like she might cry too. "It's been hard for all of us."

But he stood, pushing Nudge off, almost running back into the table. I stood, ready to stop him from falling.

He questioned, "Max, you're here, right?"

"Yes, I'm here, Ig," I responded.

And then suddenly Iggy was hugging me, actually, he was squeezing me. "I'm sorry, Max."

"It's okay," I said, trying to breathe. "It's okay, Ig."

* * *

Iggy seemed better now. Well, at least he wasn't yelling and screaming anymore. Nudge worried about him still. As the days went on, Iggy slipped in and out of confusion. Every morning, we held our breath as he would start talking to us. At least it seemed like there were more mornings now that when he woke up, he remembered where he was, and then there were other mornings where he'd go on how someone had dragged him out of his bed in the middle of the night, even though Nudge said she was right next to him sleeping the entire time. Then there were those days that Iggy seemed to be in between, and even though he wasn't really understanding what was going on, it seemed those were the best because he was always in a good mood on those days.

Fang was walking finally. He only seemed hindered by a little bit of pain, every other step had something a little off about it. Even Iggy noticed with his hearing on one of those in between days.

"Are you okay?" Iggy had asked Fang one morning.

Fang just sort of looked at Iggy, unsure of how he was going to answer.

"Right, you're still not talking," Iggy waved his hand in the air. "You and I better never get stuck together because we'll be lost and end up, I don't know, dead maybe."

Fang frowned, continuing to the seat next to me.

"I wish you'd talk," Iggy added almost absentmindedly.

Fang raised an eyebrow and then went on to eat.

* * *

"How's Fang?" Nudge came over and sat next to me as I watched the news.

I shrugged. "Not talking. But I think he's alright."

"How do you stand him not talking?"

"Well, I don't know," I sighed. "I guess I'll just have to get by with him writing things."

Nudge laughed. "Imagine Iggy not talking either. We'd have no way to communicate with him."

I had to laugh so I wouldn't think about it. "I guess so."

And all this time I had been worrying about Fang and Iggy that I hadn't noticed how untalkative Nudge had become.

"How do you think Iggy is doing?" I asked after a while.

"I don't know how to help him," Nudge admitted. "I mean, he seems better than before. He's not, angry, you know what I mean? I think it's better when he's not angry."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know."

The doorbell rang suddenly. I looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. Opening the door, it was Teddy.

"Hey, sorry to come so late," he said, almost out of breath. "My car broke down halfway here, but that's not the point. We found something and they need you to come see it."

"Now?"

"Well, no, I guess not," Teddy shook his head. "In the morning. I was just supposed to come up here and make sure things were alright."

"Oh alright, well thanks," I told him.

"Well, goodnight," Teddy nodded, starting to turn away.

"Hey, you can't go out there in the dark," I called after him. "Why don't you stay here for the night?"

He hesitated. "Okay, thanks."

I led him to one of the empty rooms and he settled in.

"I'm going to sleep, Nudge," I said.

She turned off the TV. "I better go check on Iggy. Goodnight, Max."

"Night, Nudge."

Getting into bed, I knew Fang was still awake. He never fell asleep until I settled in for the night.

"Teddy is here," I informed him. "His car broke down on the way here. I figured it's not all that safe wandering the mountains at night."

Fang nodded.

"He says he has something that the FBI needs us to see. We'll go in the morning."

Fang moved up against me, a sign that he was tired now.

"Goodnight, Fang."

But as he fell asleep, I spent the whole night wondering what they had found that was so important that the FBI needed all of us to see.


	10. Chapter 10

**Silence – Chapter 10**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"WHY DON'T YOU FREAKIN' TALK? GET OVER YOURSELF ALREADY! FANG, YOU THINK MAX IS GONNA WANNA STAY WITH YOU IF YOU DON'T TALK?"

Iggy's shouting woke me up. When I rolled on my side to wake Fang, he wasn't there, which might have explained who he was yelling at. After a moment of struggling with the blankets, I pushed them off and started down the hall. They were all in the kitchen.

"Nudge, I'm sorry," he said. I watched him reach for her hand, but she moved away. "I didn't mean to say that."

"No you're not!" she screamed, running towards Fang.

"What happened?" I frowned.

Iggy shook his head. "Maybe she's right. Maybe I do need help."

And he went back into his room, slamming the door.

Nudge was now crying against Fang's arm. He patted her arm, unsure of what else to do. I gave him a questioning look and with his free hand, he scribbled something down on a napkin and threw it at me.

_Iggy was being…difficult this morning, about Teddy and us. He said that we all needed to get our priorities straight and that Nudge and all of us needed a reality check_.

I crumpled the napkin. "Nudge, you know he's not thinking correctly."

She shook her head, still sobbing into Fang's arm. "He needs help, Max. I think you need to take him…to…to…to a doctor."

Fang patted her arm again.

"Don't you ever change, Fang," Nudge shook her head, pulling away from him.

Today was going to be a long day.

* * *

Captain took a trip up to my house to pick all of us up. Both Iggy and Nudge had calmed down, but in the back, Fang and I separated them. Teddy rode in the front with Captain. They had sent a tow truck to get his car.

Fang held my hand, looking like he was thinking about something, it was that look he got when he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure he should.

"Exactly what are you showing us, Captain?" I asked quietly.

It took a long time for him to answer. "We found a video. We need you to identify if it's one of your friends."

The way he answered told me this couldn't be good.

When we got there, they put us in an empty conference room. I stood, moving towards Teddy.

"Let me watch it first," I said quietly.

He frowned, running his fingers through his hair. "Alright."

And then Fang was suddenly at my side.

"No, you stay here with them," I murmured.

But he took my hand again. Sighing, I followed Teddy down the hall. He exchanged a few brief words with Captain and then we were led into another smaller room. The TV, on a rolling cart, already sat, waiting to be pushed to the conference room. Teddy dragged a few chairs in and we sat, staring at the screen.

Across the screen flashed:

_SUBJECT 005_

_TERMINATION_

_Subject will be fixed and released_

The screen cut to a dark room. Whoever was holding the video camera, their hands were shaking, and they couldn't be very tall as everything seemed to be viewed from waist height. The camera panned over to an operating table. There was screaming now, and someone was being pushed through the door in the background. As they reached the light, I gasped.

"Oh my God, that's Gazzy," I said, staring, hoping that halfway through this he would make an escape.

"Any last words?" I voice barked, seemingly behind the camera.

Gazzy stared at camera. "If anyone ever finds this, rescue my sister, please. And find my friends, Fang, Iggy, and Nudge. And Max, if she's still out there somewhere."

Someone stuck a needle in Gazzy and his eyes slipped out of focus. "I always liked the city. And the subway. It's dark here, like the tunnels. Dark…"

He collapsed and the camera cut out.

I opened my mouth to say something, but the screen flickered back, more brightly now, and there was screaming. The camera shook, showing the backs of men in white lab coats.

"NO!" Gazzy screamed. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!"

There was a roar of a motor and the camera suddenly dropped, and the screen went fuzzy. That seemed to be the end. Fang shivered next to me, still holding my hand.

"You can't show that to Iggy and Nudge," I breathed out.

Teddy turned off the TV. "They're outside, waiting, you know."

He opened the door and Nudge came in, Iggy following behind at a very slow pace.

"You can't show them," I repeated.

But Nudge, she sounded angry now. "We're going to see it. Stop trying to protect us Max. We need to see it, and you know that."

Teddy rewound the tape and played it again. This time, I couldn't watch. Fang put his arm around me, his eyes still watching the screen intently. By the end, Nudge was crying. She threw her arms around Iggy, like the morning's events had been forgotten.

"Is there anything you can tell us about what you saw?" Teddy asked hesitantly. "Anything you recognize?"

Fang shook his head, closing his eyes.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. I'll update soon. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Silence – Chapter 11**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

I thought about Gazzy's last words on the video the FBI showed us. He had been talking about the subway. _I always liked the city. And the subway. It's dark here, like the tunnels. Dark…_ Did that mean something? Or had he been delusional from the drugs? I racked my brain, but no code or signals we made up secretly between us came to mind.

"What city could he be talking about anyway?" Max sighed, somehow reading my chicken scratch.

"New York City." Iggy spoke up. He had been sitting quietly on the couch as we discussed this, his arm loosely around Nudge. I guess they weren't mad at each other anymore.

"The Institute?" Nudge asked. "Do you all remember that? And we bought street food, oh what was it called…a knish!"

Max rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes I remember. And we released all those poor experiments and you hacked the computer." Her expression hardened. "I killed Ari the first time there."

I sighed. Now wasn't time to be thinking about that.

"So you think he might be in New York City?" I had almost forgotten Teddy was sitting in the armchair.

"Well, we haven't really been to any other city besides that," Max replied. "But he could just be using it to compare. He could be anywhere."

"Like Hong Kong?" Nudge asked. Was it me, or did it feel like she couldn't concentrate on the more serious things that we tried to discuss?

"Yes, yes." Max waved her hands, frustrated. "I don't know. Even if we went to New York, where would we look?"

I scribbled. _Either where we escaped from The Institute or where we slept that one night. The chip in your arm…_

"Right, that's still in here too," Max tapped her wrist, a scar from when Dr. M had tried to remove it. I remembered when she had just taken off from all of us, trying to bash it out with a rock on the beach. That had scared the crap out of me.

"Well, it's worth a try," Teddy muttered, rubbing his eyes. It was almost midnight now.

"So you're just going to get a bunch of agents and raid the city?" Iggy asked.

Teddy shook his head. "I gotta talk to Captain. We can bring you, or some of you. I don't know. It's late. I better head over there before he leaves."

We watched him stand. He said goodnight to Max, waved to the rest of us, and then was out the door.

"What if he's dead?" Now Nudge was being morbid? Great.

"He's not dead," Max said.

Iggy frowned, looking like he wanted to say something, but Nudge took his hand and dragged him down the hall, mumbling that she was tired.

"I guess we oughta sleep too," Max let out a deep sigh. "C'mon."

I followed her to her room.

* * *

Teddy was back the next morning, sipping coffee in the kitchen. I wished he wouldn't just let himself in like that, but I guess it was his job to look after us. He watched Max as she entered the kitchen until she sat down next to me. I caught his eye and he looked away.

"New York," Teddy started. "It's the only lead we got. We'll be heading out tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" Max leaned against the table tiredly. "Alright, I guess we should start packing."

"Just for a couple of days," Teddy said, pouring us cups. "If we don't find anything, we'll fly you back and let the other agents keep a look out."

"Alright," Max repeated.

Iggy sauntered into the kitchen some time later, Nudge following. Without asking, they started to pull out eggs, making breakfast for us.

"Ig, we're going to New York tomorrow," Max informed him.

He stopped mixing the eggs. "Are we flying?"

"Well, how else…"

Max silenced Teddy. "No, we're taking an airplane, Ig."

He scowled. "I'm not getting on an airplane."

"Iggy," Nudge tugged at his arm. "C'mon, we're going to find Gazzy."

He went back to his cooking and didn't protest anything for the rest of the day.

* * *

It was going to be cold in New York. But it would be better than the heat. The hospital, the one that Itex kept us in, was so hot and humid. Your clothes always stuck to you, no matter how hard you tried to stay cool and not sweaty. They rarely let us shower, only when we became a mess. I got the most, seeing as they beat me up almost every day and the blood, they didn't enjoy seeing it.

"Iggy, it'll only be a couple of hours." Nudge was pulling Iggy's arm as she stood on the stairs into the plane and he stood on the tarmac.

"No, it's like eight hours!" he exclaimed.

"Iggy!" Nudge let go of his hand. "We can't leave you here alone."

He took her hand slowly and they walked up the stairs one by one.

"I hate airplanes," Max muttered, glancing at me. "What about you?"

I nodded and she gave me a trembling smile. "I thought so."

* * *

**Alright, they're off to New York now! Do you think they'll find Gazzy? Any ideas?**

**Well, I'll update around Saturday. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Silence – Chapter 12**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Some of you may hate me after this chapter, and I'm quite sorry. **

-Max's POV-

Fang was restless as we sat on the airplane. He kept his hand in mine, gripping it tightly every time we went through turbulence. Nudge and Iggy sat across from us. She seemed to have coaxed him into sleeping.

"I never thought we'd ever go back to New York," Nudge said, looking out the window. The clouds were dark and ominous. Not exactly the feeling of a good sign.

"Well, I never thought we'd go much of anywhere," I replied.

Fang shivered against me.

"Are you cold?" I asked him.

He rested against me. Nudge gave him a small smile.

Teddy came down the aisle, taking the seat next to Nudge.

"We'll be there in another hour," he informed us. "We'll take you to a secured location."

"A secured location?" I frowned.

"It's a five star hotel, Max," Teddy assured me. "We got you a nice suite that you can all share together. I thought that would be best."

"Why can't we go to the subway first?"

"Well, if that's what you'd like, I can arrange for that with the Captain."

"Well, we can't be wasting time!" Nudge exclaimed.

Sometimes I felt like the FBI was too slow, but then I have to remind myself that Teddy wasn't in charge. He was only taking orders and retelling them to us.

"Of course," Teddy nodded. And then he was gone.

* * *

It was surreal being back in the city. The weather was cold, winter now approaching. Fang wrapped his jacket around me, my hand in his as we led the way down the street. Iggy and Nudge followed closely behind. Snow began to fall as the sky became grey.

Fang pointed across the street. We went through an alleyway and down the steps. FBI agents began to get out of the cars that followed us slowly down the roads. Teddy took out his gun, now in front of us.

It seemed empty now. There were boxes strewn about, old and tattered sheets scattered. I wondered if that strange computer guy was still here, but as we moved deeper into the tunnel, there was nothing. Fang let go of my hand, his pace quickening. Iggy followed him too. And then I smelled it.

Blood.

Teddy and the agents couldn't sense it, but we could, and they ran to keep up with us, our footsteps echoing. We came to a standstill at the opening where we had slept those couple of nights. A box sat in the corner, shaking.

"Max," Teddy motioned to me and we closed in on it, leaving the others behind.

There was a voice coming from the box now. It sounded hoarse and stuttered, like the person speaking had their teeth chattering. "A…a…and it was dark…s…s…subway. If they…th…th…they only c…c…came…"

I kneeled down in front of the box, taking a deep breath. The smell of blood had never been stronger and as much as I wanted to find Gazzy, I hoped that he would be okay, that the video had all been a mistake just to scare us.

"Open it slowly," Teddy directed, his gun ready, but still pointed at the floor.

I placed my hand on the flap. Fang now stood beside me, waiting expectantly, his expression giving away nothing, his eyes fixed on the box. After he nodded, I pulled the flap open.

"Y…you….you're not real."

I grabbed Teddy's flashlight and shined it into the dark box. Gazzy had this stare on his face, but his eyes weren't focused on anything, the way Iggy looked when he was thinking, when he wasn't really here.

"Gazzy…" I breathed out, the smell of blood thick. Even Teddy looked like he could smell it now.

"Y…you…you're not real," Gazzy repeated, shutting his eyes.

He was covered in blood, in white clothes that looked like they were from a laboratory. I stretched out my hand. "Gazzy, we're real, I promise. We saw the video…"

Gazzy cringed away. "Voices…t…talking to me. G…go away."

Fang bent down next to me.

"F…F…Fang…" Gazzy jumped out of the box, his arms around Fang now, and they tumbled backwards. The agents all pulled out their guns, but Teddy held up his hand and they held their ground, staring.

I watched Gazzy push himself off of Fang and grab Fang's arm. He rolled up Fang's sleeve and his eyes stared at scars that looked like long scratches.

Fang look bewildered, staring at Gazzy. I saw the source of all the blood now. It was coming from the back of Gazzy's shirt. As Gazzy turned, standing, his back to Fang, I saw Fang's eyes widen.

And as quickly as Gazzy had sprung out of the box, he collapsed. Fang sprung out, catching him before he hit the ground.

"We gotta get him to a medical unit," Teddy said, putting his gun away.

Fang carried him out and we followed him to the car.

* * *

**I didn't want that to happen to Gazzy and I tried to write a scene where they found him in one piece, wings still there and everything, but that was never my intention when I wrote the chapter before this one. As I always say, I'm not into fairytales, but I'll find a way to give you a happy ending eventually.**

**Thanks for reading. The next chapter will be up sometime during the week.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Silence – Chapter 13**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

We sat in some medical ward of one of the FBI's buildings in New York City. The doctors were at a loss about what to do for Gazzy. We waited for them to clean him up. Fang and I both gave blood to give to him.

Nudge was asleep, Iggy's arms around her. He looked deep in thought and out of all of us, he seemed the most upset. Although Fang was restless, getting up to pace the room every now and then.

"Will you sit down?" Iggy finally growled.

Fang fell heavily into the seat next to me.

Teddy came down the hall sometime later, looking just as tired as us.

"He's out and awake now," he announced. "If you all want to see him."

Iggy was the first to stand. "Let me go first."

We followed him and Teddy down the hallway, allowing Iggy to talk to Gazzy first. Iggy felt his way around the room, taking a seat in the empty chair next to the bed.

"Gazzy, I'm really sorry," Iggy said.

"Sorry about what?"

Iggy gulped.

"Nothing happened to me Iggy," Gazzy said, reaching for the TV remote. "I don't understand why I'm here."

"Do you remember anything about what happened to you?" Iggy questioned. "Where Angel might be?"

The TV remote clattered to the ground. Gazzy sounded angry now. He reached out and grabbed Iggy by the front of his shirt. "I told you nothing happened to me!"

"I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about your sister," Iggy said calmly.

Gazzy's eyes seemed to glaze over.

"We saw that video of you, what they did to you," Iggy pressed on.

"Angel…" The name just escaped Gazzy's lips. "They made her take that video you know? I don't remember what she was filming."

"Gazzy, she was filming _you_," Iggy said flatly.

"They didn't do anything to me," Gazzy insisted.

"Goddamnit, Gazzy, they did _something_ to you!" Iggy suddenly blurted out.

"NO THEY DIDN'T!" He threw himself at Iggy.

Fang tore past me and Nudge, pushing the door opened. Gazzy's entire torso was covered in bandages, the pants we found him in still on. He looked like he wanted to hurt Iggy, but Iggy seemed like he wasn't going to fight back. They rolled on the floor and Fang was trying to pull Gazzy off of Iggy now.

"GET OFF OF ME!" Gazzy broke Fang's grip and spun around, pushing Fang against the glass.

"Gazzy, don't hurt him," Iggy said, stumbling towards them.

But Gazzy pulled Fang back and pushed him into the glass, hard. The glass cracked, falling down all around us. FBI agents were now surrounding us, guns pulled out.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE ME, FANG?" Gazzy spat in Fang's face. "WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT THEM!"

The back of Fang's head was bleeding. He looked dazed as Gazzy continued to yell in his face.

"Gazzy, that's enough!" Iggy grabbed him, but Gazzy pushed him back.

"Gazzy…" Nudge took a step towards him, but even her soft voice only seemed to make him more angry.

"ANSWER ME!" Gazzy screamed. "ANSWER ME! OR ARE YOU TOO MUCH OF A COWARD? DID THEY DO SOMETHING TO YOU TOO? ANSWER ME, FANG!"

Fang pushed Gazzy's hands away from him.

And then Gazzy got quiet all of a sudden. "What did they do to me, Fang?"

"Gaz…"

"No, Iggy, shut up!" Gazzy hissed. "I want Fang to answer me."

"Fang isn't going to answer you," I said quickly.

Gazzy's eyes fixed on me. "You're supposed to be dead."

"Well, I'm not."

"SHUT UP!" Gazzy picked up shards of glass and threw them at me. I dodge them, bumping into Teddy. That set off a chain reaction.

Teddy's gun went off as he tried to steady himself, his finger accidentally squeezing the trigger. After that, sparks flew as the bullet ricocheted around. We all took cover and watched as Fang fell to the floor on all the glass. By the end, the only people standing were Gazzy and a few of the FBI agents, the others having run down the hallway. As smoke filled the room, the sprinkler system went off.

"Max," Nudge tugged at my sleeve. "Max, Fang is bleeding."

She pointed and I rushed towards him, but Gazzy stopped me before I could reach him.

"Answer me, Fang."

Fang looked up at him, his breaths becoming short and fast.

"ANSWER ME!"

"Gazzy…"

"No, Max, shut up! You're dead! They told me you were dead!"

Fang's eyes met mine as he lifted his head, just for a second, before he looked back at Gazzy. And that was when Fang spoke for the first time.

"Your wings, Gazzy," he managed to croak before his head dropped back to the ground.

Gazzy reached over his shoulder, feeling nothing.

"No…" He backed away into the bed. "NO!"

Iggy restrained Gazzy as a team of agents rushed in with a stretched for Fang. Gazzy was screaming hysterically now. You could see the blood seeping through the bandages on his back as he tried to break free from Iggy, trying to get away.

"That's enough," Iggy said quietly. "There's nothing you can do. We don't want to hurt you, Gazzy. We just want to help. We'll find Angel, we'll fix things."

Gazzy suddenly stopped fighting. "No, you can't fix this."

* * *

**So Fang speaks. But Angel still needs to be found and Gazzy needs to get his head screwed on straight.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Silence – Chapter 14**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

They sedated Gazzy and redid his bandages. Nudge and Iggy now sat in there, talking in hushed tones. I felt bad for the poor kid, but it wasn't hard to see that Gazzy was in denial and it was going to take a lot more to pull him out to accept what had happened. It made dealing with Iggy and his issues seem like a walk in the park. I mean, at least Nudge had control over him. Gazzy had just gone on a rampage, almost killing Fang.

And yet Gazzy had gotten Fang to talk, but I'm pretty sure he only did it to protect us. Who knows what Gazzy would have done if Fang hadn't said anything. He might have gone after someone else, screaming or something. Seeing Gazzy like that was terrifying. I should have probably been sitting in Gazzy's room, waiting for him to wake up so I could give him support, but maybe I was a coward too. Part of me was afraid to face all of this. I had been so naïve to think I could just find them all and we'd be all happy and carefree, that we could just go back and be ourselves again.

I was in Fang's room now, waiting for him to regain consciousness. His pen and notepad were on the table beside him. I got the feeling that he still wouldn't be talking. The doctor said he had a concussion. They had to shave the back of his head to stitch up the wound from the glass. His leg was also heavily bandaged, resting on top of the blankets, Teddy's bullet grazing him as it had bounced around the room.

"You don't think he's going to wake up talking, huh?" Teddy took a seat next to me, no longer dressed in the clothes he was wearing before, his badge and gun now gone from his belt.

I shook my head. "He didn't want to. Fang could have answered Gazzy before all the violence started."

Teddy sighed. "What if you never found Gazzy? You think he's still stay quiet?"

"Probably," I answered. "Fang is stubborn. But you know, I know I'm stubborn too. He'll keep his word though and he'll talk if he needs to, if it'll protect us."

"Like today?"

"Yeah, like today."

"And you'd live with that if he never talked again?"

"Well, yeah, I would."

I watched him frown. "Don't you ever miss talking to someone?"

"I talk to him."

"But he doesn't answer."

"He does his best."

Teddy shook his head. He was trying to make a point and I was missing what it was.

"Every time I see you, you look more tired than before," Teddy said. "And I know you want to find all your friends, and I want to find them all too, but Max, you need someone else, other than Fang, to rely on."

"Why are you saying that to me?" I stared at him.

"Let me show you, Max."

And he leaned forward, kissing me, his arms coming around me. I felt him push me back against the couch, his body pressed against mine. As this happened, I felt like my mind had been separated from my body. Maybe I was too overwhelmed by everything that happened today to push him away, but whatever I was thinking, my arms didn't want to cooperate. It was like I was just lying there, letting him do this to me.

That was when it became clear to me that this was all wrong. Just before I shoved him off, something came flying at me, hitting Teddy and me. I grabbed it before it fell to the floor. It was Fang's notepad and when I looked up, a very hurt and angry looking Fang was staring at us.

"Oh, shit." Teddy pulled himself off of me. "Gosh, Max, I'm sorry…Fang, I'm sorry."

I looked down at the paper. In big capital letters that seemed to be screaming at me, it said, _GET OUT BOTH OF YOU!_ It took me a while to register that too before I left the notepad on Fang's beside table before trudging out after Teddy.

"What the hell were you thinking!" I shouted at Teddy, closing the door. "Your job is to protect us! Not…not…"

Teddy interrupted me. "I don't what came over me…I just, I can't stand to see you this way."

"You know that I love Fang," I said, turning away. "You know that I'd give my life for him and now what am I supposed to do? He won't trust me anymore. It's bad enough that he doesn't talk, it's hard enough on me that I've got to deal with that and the rest of them, but then you have to come around and express your feelings now? It's too late for that Teddy. You always knew I had someone else, and yet you still insist on being around me, not trying to control yourself, not trying to hide your feelings!"

He reached for my hand, but I turned and punched him across the face.

"I could get you fired!" I hissed. "And you know what, Teddy? Maybe that's exactly what I'll go do."

"No, Max, don't."

"Just…Leave, Teddy."

He gave me one last look before turning and trudging down the hall, hand over his eye. Nudge was standing farther down the hallway, giving me a questioning look. It was safe to say that everyone up and down the hall had heard all my yelling. Turning in the opposite direction, I ran, finding the exit, and taking off into the snow night in New York.

* * *

**Some drama here. It'll strain things, no doubt, for the characters. Heh, I always have to complicate things, don't I? Well, thanks for reading! Chapter 15 will be on its way soon!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Silence – Chapter 15**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

My head hurt, my arm hurt, and I felt sore all over. Then I wake up to Max and Teddy making out on the couch in my room. I listened to Max yell at Teddy. Part of me wished I hadn't told her to leave, but the other part of me felt like someone had just stabbed me.

The door opened suddenly and Nudge came in. "What just happened?"

I shrugged, reaching for my notepad.

"Where's Max?"

I shook my head and wrote on the paper. _I woke up to Teddy and Max kissing on the couch._

Nudge sounded shocked. "What?"

_Do me a favor and go find her_.

"Well, alright then," Nudge nodded, closing the door as she left.

Yet some time later, Nudge still hadn't come back. I was too tired to think though, too tired to worry, or maybe I didn't want to think or worry. As soon as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep.

* * *

I woke up to an empty room. My jacket, which Max had been wearing last night, was now draped over the side of the bed. Well, at least she had come back last night. It would be another hour until someone came in, and it wasn't Max, it Iggy.

"I told you Teddy was up to no good," he remarked.

_Where is Max?_ I wrote, losing patience with Iggy already.

"I don't know, somewhere," Iggy responded. "She's upset too and she's scared."

I let out a breath.

"And you know, maybe I was right about not trusting her."

Nudge appeared now in the doorway. I got the feeling that she had tried to stop him from coming here before. But I could tell he wasn't thinking straight anymore. On a good day, he would insist that it was all a misunderstanding. I knew Iggy well enough to know that finding Gazzy hurt like that was getting to his head.

"Iggy, that's enough. You heard Max yelling last night," Nudge said, grabbing his arm. "Why can't you just keep your mouth shut?"

Iggy let himself be led out of the room and now I was alone again, unsure of what to think or believe. I mean, Max hadn't been kissing him back last night. Or was that just part of my imagination wanting to believe that Max didn't want that?

The whole day went by and the only people I saw were nurses and doctors. Neither Max nor Teddy seemed to be around. Around noon, I could hear Gazzy screaming from down the hall, and Nudge came by later, promising me things were okay now. I should have been down there with them, not stuck in a bed. The doctor insisted I still needed one more day of bed rest though.

Just as I was about to turn off the lights and go to sleep, Max came in. She moved slowly to the side of my bed, her eyes avoiding mine as she sat down.

"I'm sorry, Fang," she murmured, staring at the floor. "I don't know what happened. It's just, I wanted to stop him, but I couldn't."

I frowned. The one thing I had promised myself was that I wasn't going to get mad at her. It took me a few more seconds than I wanted, but I scribbled out a response. _I heard you yelling at him. What you said, did you mean it?_

"Well, yeah, of course I meant it, Fang."

I forced her eyes to meet mine.

"I mean, what am I supposed to say to you?" Max was on the verge of tears now. "There are so many other things we need to worry about, and I'm just adding to this mess."

I hesitated, and then wrote, _If I talked, would things be easier for you?_

She shook her head, wiping her eyes. "No, Fang, I'd just feel guilty."

Forgiveness was something I learned from Iggy's rages. As I sat there, watching Max cry, I knew she needed me and that I needed her.

"I mean, after I got to know Teddy and realized that he had feelings for me, I thought thought…I told myself…" she sucked in a breath. "I told myself, 'he's not Fang, Max. He'll never be Fang'. And now we're here, and you probably don't even believe me."

I wanted to answer her, I wanted to talk to her without having to write, but I knew that would only hurt her more, so I wrote slowly, _No, Max, I believe you_.

She began to sob and I pulled her into bed next to me, slipping my arm around her.

"I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry."

I kissed her forehead. _It's okay, Max_.

She buried her face into my chest, arms around me like letting go might drown her in her own tears.


	16. Chapter 16

**Silence – Chapter 16**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

I felt like I didn't deserve forgiveness from Fang. He didn't even seem angry anymore, like he had just already forgotten about what had happened, even though I was still thinking about it and feeling guilty. In fact, I had spent most of my day avoiding Teddy and Fang, waiting to hear more about Gazzy. Iggy had been talking to him, the only one who could keep him calm.

"He says Angel could be anywhere," Iggy told me, stepping outside of Gazzy's room. "The last time he saw her was when they made the video. He says that they weren't going to do the same thing that they did to him. They just thought he was getting in the way of things, what was the word he used? Oh, yes, useless. He says that they were going to try to do something to Angel, use her to control people. I mean, it's hard to talk to Gazzy. He's just, lost isn't really the word…"

"He's in denial and he's just like you when we finally escaped," Nudge stated bluntly.

"Well, yeah," Iggy agreed without much thought. "I'm worried about him."

"I am too," I sighed. "At least…at least we have him here now and he's alive."

Iggy nodded. "But he wants to find Angel. He understands that now, which is why I got him to talk for a while. The fact that he's not with his sister anymore is going to start eating him up."

I opened my mouth to say something, but Iggy continued to speak as soon as I did.

"How is Fang?" he asked.

Nudge suddenly looked nervous and Iggy could sense it as he said, "He's probably mad at me. Tell him I didn't mean what I said yesterday."

"Okay," I heard myself reply, wondering what Iggy had said to Fang.

"Well, I'll try talking to him again tomorrow. We need rest. It's been a long couple of days," Iggy finished.

Nudge took his hand and they disappeared down the hall into the makeshift bedrooms they had given us. Well, it was probably time to go check on Fang now.

As I walked into his room, climbing into bed next to him, Fang's hand slipped into mine. I felt him squeeze it.

"Iggy says that Gazzy doesn't know much about Angel, only that he knows that they had other plans for her, that they had basically labeled him as useless." Fang rested against me and I continued. "And Iggy says he's sorry about what he said yesterday."

Fang let out a sigh.

"What did he say to you anyway?"

But Fang shook his head, turning the lights off in the room. He pulled the blankets over us and I listened to his breathing for a while. Before I could ask him the question again, I was drifting off to sleep.

* * *

Fang was out of bed the next day, walking around. I knew it wouldn't take long for him to recover.

Gazzy was still out of whack, only talking to Iggy, often breaking down into tears. Iggy said he was going to try to convince Gazzy to go back to California, so we could keep him at home, somewhere stable and not a hospital. But there was no way we would ever be able to get him on a plane.

_Drive?_ Fang had suggested.

I told Iggy and he shrugged. "It's worth a try. Or we'll just be stuck here in New York for a while."

Iggy disappeared into Gazzy's room. Nudge let out a sigh and we followed her to the room she was sharing with Iggy. She took a seat on the bed and Fang and I sat on the couch. It was supposed to be a medical room, but the bed and all the other stuff had been pushed aside and a cot rolled in.

"Even if Iggy convinces him," Nudge began. "It's still going to be hell bringing him back to California."

"Maybe we should sedate him and bring him back," I thought out loud.

Fang shook his head.

"Yeah, I'd hate that too," I agreed.

"I want to go back to your place," Nudge said after a while, curling into a ball on the bed. "I want to go home."

And the fact that she considered my place home now, even though the situation we were in was tearing us apart, that gave me a little hope.

* * *

**A short chapter, but I wanted to get something up. The next chapter will have more to it though, I promise. Thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Silence – Chapter 17**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

Gazzy asked to see all of us. We filed into his room, a feeling of anxiety seemed to be building. I stood by Fang and he held my hand, still content with making sure that nothing had changed between us since my incident with Teddy.

Fang was addressed first by Gazzy with an apology. It was a simple, "I'm sorry for hurting you," but you could tell that Fang appreciated it. Gazzy didn't question Fang not answering him, so I guess Iggy had explained to him what was going on.

"Gazzy has agreed to go home with us," Iggy said. "On the condition that you or Fang is driving, Max."

It was a nice way for Iggy to say that he didn't want Teddy in the car with us, but it was also what Gazzy really wanted, an FBI agent free car. I remembered how untrusting Iggy had been before, and even now, you could tell he still didn't trust the FBI completely.

"Alright," I agreed and Fang nodded.

Gazzy seemed to be pulling the blankets over himself, like he wanted to hide, but he couldn't. His voice wavered as he spoke again. "When…when are we going?"

"Whenever you're ready," I answered.

He stared at me like I was unrecognizable. Then again, I felt like that the way he looked at everything was like that.

"T…tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sure, tomorrow sounds good," I said.

"Okay." He pulled the blankets over his head, shaking. Iggy motioned to the door and we filed out.

"I'll…I'll have to talk to Teddy," I sighed.

Fang frowned.

"C'mon," I said. "Let's go find him."

I found Teddy in a room with a desk. He sat behind a computer, but he seemed distracted from whatever he was supposed to be doing.

"Can we leave tomorrow?" I asked, standing in the doorway next to Fang.

Teddy's eyes went from Fang, and then to me. "Well, sure, of course."

"Well, we're going to need two cars," I told him. "Gazzy won't fly in a plane and, well, he doesn't trust any of you FBI agents to be in the car with him."

"Captain won't like that, but we all want to get back to California," Teddy nodded, sounding nervous.

"Okay, well, tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow, don't worry about it, I'll get everything ready by then."

"Thanks, Teddy."

"And, Fang?" Teddy hesitated. "I'm sorry."

Fang shook his head, leading me away from the room.

* * *

We left early the next morning to avoid traffic. The cold air stung as we exited the building to a small alleyway. In order to be conspicuous, the FBI had gotten a few _regular_ looking cars, as Teddy had said. They had a minivan for us.

"Hey, are you okay?" I turned to see Iggy grabbing Fang by the arm, Fang leaning against the minivan with his eyes closed.

I opened the back door, letting Nudge and Gazzy in. Iggy had opened the passenger door for Fang, helping him in.

"You know, it's quiet annoying he doesn't talk," Iggy growled. "Is he alright?"

I looked at Fang and his eyes met mine for a moment. He pulled out his pad of paper. _The cold, and my head hurting, it made me dizzy_.

"Yeah, Ig, he's alright," I said.

Iggy got in and closed the door. I watched Teddy get into the car in front of us, a black sedan. There was a faded red pickup truck behind us, Captain at the wheel. We followed them out of the alleyway and through the city. It was going to be a long drive home.

Snow was falling again. It looked like it had been for a while too, the sidewalks had a thin layer and there were plows out. But we soon left the city onto rode that wasn't well kept. Teddy came to a halt in front of us and I accidentally slammed on the brakes, skidding across ice and almost hitting him. He turned off his car, got out, and walked towards the side of the van.

"It's too dangerous," he told me. "Only the pickup truck will get through all this ice. We passed a hotel on the way here. We'll get a couple of rooms for the night, alright?"

I looked back at Iggy and Nudge. Gazzy was curled up between them, a blanket wrapped around him, asleep, his head had ended up rested against Iggy's leg as a pillow. Nudge let out a sigh and shrugged. When I looked at Fang, he had his eyes closed.

"Okay, let's go," I said to Teddy.

He nodded, standing there a few seconds longer, and then headed back to his car. We turned around and a few minutes later, we were in the parking lot of a hotel.

"No, I don't wanna go in there," Gazzy protested.

Everyone was out of the van now waiting for Gazzy.

"We can't drive in the snow," I tried to explain. "It's too dangerous. You can't stay out here. You'll freeze."

"Then I'll freeze." But Gazzy shivered, trying to cocoon himself in the blanket.

"Aren't you hungry, Gaz?" Iggy stuck his head into the car. "We'll get some food."

"You don't know what they're feeding us!"

Iggy let out a sigh. "Nothing's going to happen to any of us, Gazzy."

Gazzy suddenly jumped out of the car, making a mad dash to the door of the hotel. We rushed after him, wondering how he had managed not to slip on the ice.

* * *

**We'll get them home soon. I'm trying to get the next few chapters together to work on what's going to happen next, so bear with me for a chapter or so and we'll get into some more interesting stuff.**

**If you get the chance, check out my newest story, **_**Meant to Be**_**. I've also got a new poll up to vote for my next story I'll post and if you've got extra time, check out my new Tumblr website I made for my fanfics which you can follow and get the latest inside scoop on stories and what not.**

**Thanks for reading! New chapter will be up during the week.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Silence – Chapter 18**

By MyNameIsCAL

As soon as we made sure Gazzy settled into his room with Iggy and Nudge, Fang and I went to our own. He went to the window, staring out for a while before shutting the curtains and crawling into bed. I let out a sigh and got into bed too, curling up against him. Slowly, his arm came around me.

"I just want to be home already," I said quietly. "I want to find Angel. I everything to be how it used to be."

He gave me a troubled look and I sighed.

There was a knock on the door. Fang and I looked at each other for another few seconds before I got up. I was hoping it was Iggy or Nudge, but Teddy stood there. After taking a deep breath, I opened the door.

"Hey, Teddy," I managed to smile.

He smiled back. "I'm heading down to the restaurant with Captain. I was wondering if you and Fang would like to come."

I was relieved that he wasn't here for anything else. "No, it's alright, I'll just get some room service later."

He nodded, not even a waver in his smile. "Alright, then, I'll see you later. Call me if you need anything."

I closed the door as he turned to go, getting back into bed net to Fang. His arm came back around me, our eyes meeting. I put my hand into his, fingers knotting themselves in each other. He looked like he had something to tell me now, but he wasn't going to say it, whether he would talk or not. We remained like that for a while, staring into each other's eyes.

Fang leaned forward and kissed me. I rolled back, Fang now on top of me, my hand in his hair. We broke away from each other a minute later, a little bit breathless. He gave me one of his rare smiles before going back to the side of his bed. I turned to face him and he rested his arm on me, fingers playing with my hair.

"What was that for?" I asked him.

He shrugged, the smile still there. I smiled back.

* * *

We went to Iggy's room for dinner, ordering room service so Gazzy wouldn't have to deal with anyone else. When we walked in, he grabbed Fang by the arm, pushing his sleeve up, revealing three long scars, the ones that looked like someone had dug their fingers into Fang's arm and scratched him hard. Fang winced at seeing them and Gazzy dropped his arm, allowing the sleeve to fall back down into its place.

"Just checkin', you know?" Gazzy said, his eyes actually met Fang's. "I'm sorry about that."

Fang shook his head and Gazzy took a seat back on the bed, allowing us to come in. Gazzy had done that before, look at Fang's arm. I wasn't sure if I understood.

_When they took Gazzy, he tried to grab onto me_, Fang wrote as we took a seat on the couch. _It's his way of checking that I'm really me_.

I nodded and Fang stuffed the pad of paper back into his pocket. We flipped through the room service menu and ordered. Gazzy had asked for enough food for three people and when the hotel said we couldn't possibly eat all that food, Iggy had to lie and say other people from other rooms were eating with us, which was true in some sense.

"Do you still cook, Iggy?" Gazzy asked.

Iggy nodded. "I'll cook you up a nice dinner when we get back home."

"Home?" Gazzy raised an eyebrow.

"Max's place," Nudge explained.

"Oh, right."

Iggy let out a sigh. I got the feeling they had told him that before.

* * *

I was glad to be home. After Gazzy surveyed the place, he picked a room, hiding himself under the blankets.

"He's waiting for Teddy and the other agents to leave," Iggy whispered, walking by me in the hallway.

I went back to the kitchen, Fang following me.

"I think it'd be best if you all left," I announced.

The agents looked at Teddy for orders.

"Is there anything I can get you?" Teddy stood. "Iggy already told me what he needed from the grocery store."

"I think that's all," I told him.

Hesitantly, he nodded and left, the other agents following him. Fang frowned, slouching into a chair. I heard the front door shut, cars driving down the unpaved road.

"Are they gone now?" Gazzy appeared in the doorway.

"Yeah, they're gone," I nodded.

He looked around and then took a seat next to Fang.

"This is your house?" Gazzy asked. "It's really nice."

I gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

Gazzy returned a sad smile. "Angel would like it here."

And then he sprang out of his seat, dashing out of the kitchen. I heard the TV turn on a little later.

"I'm worried about him," I said.

Fang's eyes met mine, as if he were saying, _me too_.

* * *

**Okay, I know, filler chapter pretty much. I thought it'd be nice to have a bit between Fang and Max, considering Teddy has kissed Max twice and Fang hasn't kissed her at all until now. **

**Next chapter we'll see how Gazzy adjusts to being at home. Then I've got plans for how they figure out what happened to Angel. Thanks for reading! New chapter should be up during the week.**

**I've also posted a new story called **_**I Love You, Maybe**_**, so check it out if you have the chance. **


	19. Chapter 19

**Silence – Chapter 19**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

Gazzy sat to my left, Max asleep against me to my right. The TV was on, but we were staring at a blue screen because Gazzy didn't want to watch anything.

"How long have you been here?" Gazzy asked.

I pointed to the pad of paper on the table.

"Oh, right, you don't talk still." He sighed and handed it to me.

_Maybe almost a month. Not that long. _

"And Iggy burned down the place they were keeping you? I wish I coulda seen that." Gazzy stared at the TV. "What did they do to you after I left? Iggy didn't say much about it."

I shook my head.

"You don't want to say either, do you? Well, I guess that's okay." Gazzy's eyes moved to the wall beyond the TV. "Some things are better left untold."

I nodded in agreement.

"Are you going to marry Max?"

I blinked at him for a moment. Was he really asking me that? I mean, yeah, they always used to joke that we'd be with each other forever. And while I would never tell Max and she would never admit it to me, we both believed in it too. Now wasn't the time to be thinking about stuff like that, not with Angel still missing. I wrote my response slowly, wondering why it mattered to him. _I'd like to_.

"Angel always used to tell me you two would. I've been thinking a lot about Angel lately. She's out there somewhere, thinking about us, maybe even looking up at the same night sky…" He let out a sigh. "I'm tired. Goodnight, Fang."

He stood, abruptly, and started down the hallway, footsteps trailing away. I stood, lifting Max from the couch, and carried her to her room. Then I got into bed next to her, settling against her, my arm wrapped around her.

* * *

"Where's Gazzy?"

I looked up at Iggy.

"He's not in his room?" Max asked.

"No." Nudge frowned. "Gazzy!"

Iggy cocked his ear to one side and then made a dash towards the back door. We ran after him.

"Gazzy! What are you doing?" Nudge's voice cracked. "Gazzy!"

"What is he doing?" Iggy shook my arm frantically.

"He's standing on the edge of the cliff," Max answered, her voice shaking.

"Don't do it, Gaz!" Iggy shouted. "You know you can't fly!"

"What're you talking about?" he asked. "Would you like to join me?"

"Gazzy!" Nudge cried out.

And he jumped. I started to run, jumping after him.

"FANG!" That was Max screaming now.

It was a long way down and I caught up to him, his arms outstretched. He gave me a smile and his mouth moved, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. Grabbing him, I shot my wings out and we swooped a few feet from the ground.

He started to laugh. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

I frowned at him.

We landed a few minutes later, the others crowding around us.

"You can't fly, Gaz," Iggy said, faltering. "You…you can't…"

Gazzy started to run towards the house, jumping in the air, like he was trying to take off. It was heartbreaking to watch. I felt Max lean against me, shaking.

"I can do this!" Gazzy suddenly screamed. "Watch me!"

Nudge had her eyes closed, her hand in Iggy's. Gazzy tried again and again.

"Gazzy, they cut off your wings," Iggy finally choked out. "_You can't fly_."

Gazzy came to a standstill, staring at us. And then he ran into the house. Iggy and Nudge hurried after him. As we approached the house, you could hear the door to his room slam shut.

That morning had shaken us. Max curled up on the couch, her head resting against me, silent. Iggy sat on the armchair, eyes intently locked on the floor like he might be able to see it if he tried to look hard enough. We all seemed to be content with looking everywhere except at each other. Nudge had run off to her room, quietly crying.

"Will…will you go check on Gazzy?" Max stared up at me.

I nodded and she lifted her head. The walk to Gazzy's room felt like it took ours. I knocked on his door and he didn't answer, so I opened it. He sat on his bed, staring out the window.

"I can still feel them there sometimes, ready to unfurl, and take me up to the sky." Gazzy turned to me. "What those scientists did to us was bad, but this seems like worse. Did you ever think about how getting wings wasn't such a bad thing? That before we may have been a little damaged, but we got by with each other and we were special. But I'm not special anymore, Fang. I can't fly and you all can. So what if I can mock your voices? So what if I can clear a room with a pass of gas? It's…it's not the same."

He turned back to the window. "But I'm gonna find a way to fly someday, somehow. I…I just want to be left alone for a while. I won't do anything stupid, I promise, Fang."

I closed the door gently as I exited the room. And then I leaned against it, closing my eyes, wishing that I had tried to do more to save him that day they took him away.


	20. Chapter 20

**Silence – Chapter 20**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

The door bell rang a little after dinner. Gazzy made it there first, peeking out the window before making a spring to his room, the door slamming behind him. Nudge let out a sigh and Fang opened the door.

"Evening," Teddy muttered, letting himself in. "We've got a lead."

He took a seat in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee for himself because that's how well he knew the place before taking a seat with his laptop. Teddy looked tired, sipping at his coffee when he waited for his computer to load. I took a seat next to him and the others gathered around, Iggy taking a seat on the opposite side, looking grumpy.

"We found this abandoned underground lab in New York. Not far from where we found Gazzy. There were a couple of computers left. This file is pretty recent, last couple of months." Teddy clicked a few things and then typed in a code. "Alright, here it is."

It was grainy footage, another dark room, but I could see Angel standing with two men, one who looked like he had just been thrown to the ground, the other man holding a knife.

A voice came through, harsh and computer sounding. "Command the man with the knife to kill the other man."

"No!" Angel protested, backing away. "I can't do that!"

"You need to if you want your brother to live!" The voice snapped.

"No!"

"Resistance will only make things harder. We will hurt you too."

Teddy cut the video after that. "You don't need to see the man get killed."

"Oh my god…" Nudge backed away. "Why would they make her do that?"

"We don't know. I was hoping you could talk to Gazzy and ask him to try to remember things." Teddy shook his head. "It's not much of a lead, but it's something."

Nudge left the kitchen suddenly and Iggy let out a sigh, saying that she was still upset about earlier and it made everything else bother her too.

"They made us run through mazes," Iggy shook his head. "They made us fly, they made us fight experiments, but never did we come in contact with anyone who wasn't a scientist or an experiment. They never forced us to hurt anyone."

"It's almost like they had other plans for Angel," Teddy concluded.

"Yeah, I guess so. Half the time they were too busy beating the shit out of Fang anyway." Iggy sighed. "I better go check on Nudge."

Iggy stood, leaving us.

"I found another video too," Teddy said. "And it's strange because it was from New York. One of our guys managed to crack the code to unlock some files and one of them was a video of Fang being, ah, tortured…although it was pretty bad."

Fang looked away from Teddy.

He placed a flash drive on the kitchen table, closing his laptop. "This is the file. I'm not going to make you watch it, but maybe it'll spark something that can help us find Angel. I'll probably be back tomorrow, if that's okay with you. The team back at headquarters is still trying to decode a bunch of things."

I nodded and Teddy stood. "Well, sorry for coming so late."

And he was gone without even saying goodbye. I heard the front door close and Fang took the flash drive, holding it in his hand.

"The scientists, after they took us away, they forced Angel to control things. She always refused, no matter what the told her, but she had to give in after they held a knife to my throat." I looked up to see Gazzy standing in the doorway. "I remember watching a video of you, Fang, being tortured. Angel cried for days after seeing it. They said they'd do that to me, and worse."

Fang still had his eyes on the floor.

Gazzy took a few steps towards him. "They used to show it to us, to torture us. I thought you were dead. I remember watching it the last time before they…"

He trailed off and then turned, leaving us.

Fang stood and without saying anything, I followed him to our bedroom and we climbed into bed, his arms coming around me after I turned off the lights. I lay there, my head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

"I wish there was more I could do for Gazzy," I said after a while. "I wish there was more I could do for all of you."

Fang let out a breath.

"Fang…" I turned to face him, resting my hand on his cheek. "Are you going to watch that video?"

Even in the dark, I could see him staring into my eyes. It was enough for me to understand that he was going to eventually, almost like he was telling me he had to. And then he took my hand, his fingers between my own, and he leaned forward, kissing me softly, as if he were telling me everything was going to be okay.


	21. Chapter 21

**Silence – Chapter 21**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

We sat in front of my computer, Fang plugging the flash drive in. Gazzy was with us, insisting he see it, but Nudge opted out of watching and Iggy, well, he knew she was still upset about things.

Fang turned to me, his eyes meeting mine and I nodded. His attention turned back to the computer, clicking on the one file on the flash drive. A video screen popped up and Fang leaned against the desk, as if bracing himself.

"It's like, five minutes long, isn't it?" Gazzy asked. "They drag him into this dark room, strap him to a table, and demand to know where he thinks you are, but he doesn't talk, so they start to hurt him, and…"

Fang held up his hand and Gazzy fell silent. As Gazzy said, the time read about five minutes, a grainy image of Fang being dragged in, his nose already bleeding as they strapped him onto a table.

"TELL ME WHERE MAX IS!" A voice demanded, sounded scrambled.

The Fang on the screen just stared blankly at the camera. There was a sound of something opening, maybe a drawer, and a man dressed in all black appeared on the screen. He ripped Fang's shirt off, pressing it against his chest.

"I'll give you one last chance."

Fang still continued to stare and the man in black slid the knife across his chest. Blood began to drip down, running down his torso.

"Tell me or worse will be done."

Again, Fang was persistent, not speaking.

"Okay, let's try something else."

The man in black disappeared off screen and returned, appearing with a longer knife.

"We don't want to hurt him, just cause a little pain."

I flinched as the man drove the knife through Fangs arm. It looked like he was trying to resist his reaction to scream.

"Nothing still? Again!"

The man brought another knife, sliding it across Fang's stomach before driving it into his shoulder.

I glanced at Fang. His eyes were glued to the screen, giving nothing away about how he felt.

"This is the part that Angel couldn't stop having nightmares about," Gazzy muttered. "It was the reason I thought you were dead…"

Fang closed his eyes.

"No answer. Okay, beat him up!"

The man in black started to punch Fang, over and over again. After a while, Fang went limp.

"Max, cover your eyes…" Gazzy's voice seemed choked up all of a sudden.

"What?"

"All that blood…"

And then the man in black stabbed Fang in the middle of the chest, blood gushing out, spurting out. I shut my eyes and Fang's arm came around me as I shook against him.

"How did…how did you survive that, Fang? Tell me?" Gazzy shook his head.

Fang let out a breath, his other hand reaching for a piece of paper.

_I don't know. I passed out after that, but when I woke up, Iggy and Nudge said I had been gone for what seemed like forever. They must have done something to me. Someone decided I needed to be kept alive. _ Fang put his hand to his chest.

Gazzy scratched his head, standing abruptly, as most of his movement went these days. He took a few slow steps towards the door before turning to face us again.

"I wish this were all some kind of bad dream." And then he was gone, running down the hall.

Fang shut off my computer, pocketing the flash drive before pulling me into a hug.

* * *

It was late and I had let Fang run off to fly. Lately, we hadn't done much of it because I knew it would upset Gazzy. Ever since we watched that video, Gazzy kept to himself, eating meals with us, spending time with us only when we asked him to. But he left his door open, to prove to us he was okay with being alone.

I sat on the bed, staring at the flash drive that Fang had left on his bedside table. The clock said it was almost midnight, and every now and then I would catch Fang's shadow in the distance, still flying, like he did it just to tell me he was okay. I closed my eyes, trying not to let images of the video take up my thoughts.

"Nudge, please….please don't cry." I could hear Iggy talking through the wall. "He'll be alright. He just needs time."

"But you can't _see_ him, Ig. You look into his eyes and there's nothing, no emotion. It's not like Fang where you can see his pain, his sadness, or the anger in your eyes when you get frustrated…there's nothing!"

"You think this is easy for me, Nudge? My whole life I haven't been able to see anything! You know how many times I wished I was dead when we were stuck with those stupid scientists?" Iggy's voice cracked. "Nudge, if it weren't for you, I woulda let myself get killed in those fucking flames."

I got out of my bed and went to the hallway, standing outside of Iggy's door.

"Ig…I'm sorry…" Nudge sounded like a little kid again, crying.

"Goddamnit, Nudge, you know I love you." It sounded like he was crying too. "I don't want to fight with you. We made it this far…I'm sorry I can't see everything you see, and you know, I'll never be able to…"

"Iggy, I love you too…"

I took my hand off the doorknob, deciding that they no longer sounded like they needed an intervention. After seeing Gazzy was asleep in his room, I crawled back into my bed, finding Fang's shadow in the sky, still doing circles in the distance.

It didn't take long for me to doze off, but the running water in the bathroom woke me. Out the window I couldn't see Fang's shadow anymore. The shower turned off and he came out, just wearing boxers.

He looked embarrassed.

Before he could cross the room to get clothes out of the dresser, I grabbed him by the hand, pulling him into a sitting position on the bed. I touched his arm where had a scar from what I had seen in the video. And then there were the old scars, ones from a long time ago, back when Ari had been against us, when he had slashed Fang, making three very distinct claw marks. Those seemed like the good ol' days compared to now.

I put my hand flat against the center of his chest, a jagged looking scar from the stab wound that should have killed him. Fang put his hand over mine and took in a breath, inhaling and then exhaling.

"How could anyone be so cruel?" I asked, seeing the other scars from other things that weren't in the video.

Fang shook his head.

"C'mon, let's go to sleep," I whispered.

And we climbed under the blankets, his arms wrapped around me as I let the rhythm of his heart put me to sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

**Silence – Chapter 22**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"I had a dream last night."

We all turned to face Gazzy as he sat down at the table. He grabbed a piece of toast, a spoonful of eggs, and two slices of bacon.

"About what?" Iggy questioned.

"Angel, telling me where she was."

"But it was a dream?" Nudge asked.

"I don't know," Gazzy shrugged. "But maybe we should, like, go check it out."

I frowned. "Well, I'll have to talk to the FBI."

"No!" Gazzy slammed his fist down on the table. "Just us! They're not to be trusted!"

Fang let out a sigh.

"Alright, Gaz, we'll check it out. Where do we have to go?"

He looked up at me, wide eyed. "The school."

"And how are we going to get there?" Iggy cut in.

Gazzy clenched his teeth. "Without me."

Fang shook his head.

"We can't leave you here," I said, as if I were speaking Fang's mind.

"Then call your FBI friend if you really trust him. They must have helicopters or something." Gazzy put his hand on his shoulder.

Fang stared back at me when I looked for his thoughts on the situation. A few seconds later, I picked up the phone.

* * *

Teddy and Captain arrived a half hour later. Captain was skeptical, but Teddy, well, he was just trying to gain some trust back.

"I'll go in the helicopter with you, Gaz," Nudge offered.

He nodded. "Thank you."

Fang spread his wings and I followed suit. We took off, the helicopter following slowly behind us.

"Do you think we'll find anything?" Iggy asked.

"I don't know. Angel always had her way of telling us things. Maybe she found a way to get to him," I said. "Well, I'm being hopeful."

"Better hopeful than not, I guess," Iggy closed his eyes. "Gazzy must be hating that helicopter."

"It's noisy, it's claustrophobic, and it's not peaceful," I looked back at the helicopter. "It's deafening me already."

Fang had his eyes below us. Civilization was starting to disappear and dessert was taking over.

"We're going to have to stop somewhere for the night," Iggy reminded me even though we had just taken off. "Although there's not really anywhere to go."

"Yes there is," I responded. "Fang and I know a place."

Fang nodded.

When the sun started to set some hours later, we found ourselves on the cliff, hawks in the distance. Fang took my hand as we stood on the edge of the cliff, looking out.

"I remember you threatened to leave me if I didn't shut up." Nudge came up on Fang's other side.

He dropped my hand and scribbled something down. _You know I wasn't serious about that. _

She laughed. "I know." And then Nudge left, heading towards Iggy. The helicopter had landed above us. Teddy and Captain came out with a couple of bags. We settled into the cave behind us, Gazzy already starting a fire. Iggy seemed amused by it.

"You know how to start a fire?" Captain asked in his deep voice.

Gazzy just looked up at him and shrugged.

"He didn't talk to them in the helicopter," Nudge whispered to me.

We sat around the fire. Captain was trying to get cell service, but out here, between the mountains, there was nothing. He gave up after a while, shutting off his phone and shoving it into his pocket. Iggy was working on cooking some stuff on a pan for us to eat. That seemed to keep Captain and Teddy occupied as they watched the blind guy master cooking better than any person with sight could.

The food got passed around and we drifted away from each other. Fang and I squeezed into a sleeping bag. His arms were around me and I knotted my fingers in his. It was chilly, as the nights were getting here. Winter wasn't freezing, but it was cold for us accustomed to hot weather. I remembered winter had always been the hardest for me to be alone. Last year Teddy said he was going to see his family, that there would be another agent to check up on me every now and then, but on Christmas Eve, Teddy showed up with some food. Teddy was a good guy, he just fell for the wrong person.

"You should sleep, Fang," I said quietly. "We're waking up early tomorrow."

He grunted and squeezed my hand.

I closed my eyes. "Goodnight, Fang."

* * *

It was me that woke up first though, Fang still snoring. I freed myself from the sleeping bag and stretched, feeling my back crack. Someone was sitting over by the edge of the cliff, a tinge of pink in the sky now, sun rising.

"Why are you up so early?" It was Teddy.

"I don't know," I shrugged, taking a seat next to him.

He kept his eyes out to the distance. "I wanted to say that I'm sorry for what happened before. It was out of line, and I should know better, letting my personal feelings get into my job."

"You know, you'll find someone, Teddy," I said after a while.

"I know," Teddy sighed. "When this is over, this case, I'm going to put in for a transfer to New York."

"That's the other side of the country."

"That's exactly why."

"But why would you do that?"

He shrugged. I got the feeling I was the reason.

"You're the reason I'm here now and not dead," I reminded him. "And you know, why don't we just forget about what happened?"

"You're the reason I have a job at the FBI," he laughed quietly. "Alright, Max, if you're up for that, then why not."

He stuck out his hand and I shook it.

* * *

**I never meant for Teddy to be a bad guy. I thought I'd give him and Max a little resolution. Stay tuned for the next chapter! I'm sensing some action now.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Silence – Chapter 23**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

Iggy and Max had been carrying on a conversation for the past hour now. They weren't really talking about much of anything. It was just to fill the silence, even though the helicopter was probably going to cause hearing damage.

The school had to be only another hour away now. There was this eeriness to the idea we were going back there, that things could still be happening there. I wondered if Jeb was still around, maybe he was there, doing the same thing to another group of experiments, betraying us, messing with our heads. He disgusted me.

_He's here_.

I blinked, looking around, but Iggy was talking to Max and Max was telling him that all the trees looked the same.

_Jeb, he's here._

Had I not gotten enough sleep last night? I used to hear things in the hospital, see things, especially after getting tortured, but when I told myself they weren't real, the hallucinations went away. I hadn't had one since we had gotten out. Maybe thinking about the school was making me paranoid.

And that's when we spotted it. White buildings around overgrown brush. It had been perfectly hidden in the valley. Max waved at the helicopter to land and we found a place behind some rocks, hopefully far enough so no one would notice us. And if it wasn't, then they would have seen us coming for a long time already.

Teddy and Captain were loading up on ammo. They offered us bullet proof vests, but if we needed to get away, we wouldn't be able to fly.

"Max," Teddy called Max over.

Captain had his back turned to us, talking to Nudge about the school.

"Here," Teddy whispered. "Take this."

Max shook her head. "I'm not going to use that."

Teddy sighed and then his eyes turned to me. "How about you? I could lose my job for this, but then again, Captain and I could lose our jobs for not calling in more agents."

I shook my head and he pulled up his pants leg, tucking the gun in. Max glanced at me and we started towards the school.

It seemed dead outside. There were no vehicles, no sign of life. In fact, there was a door wide opened as we approached. I had half expected an eraser to come out an attack us, but there was nothing. Nothing I could sense, nothing I could see.

But it did smell like the school, that smell of hospitals. I couldn't stand it.

"That smell," Iggy said in a low growl.

Nudge took his hand as Max and I led the way through, Teddy following closely behind with his gun out.

It seemed empty. Everything here looked like it hadn't been used in years. Then Nudge put her hand on a doorknob and jumped back.

"What's wrong?" Iggy asked.

Nudge closed her eyes. "Pain…"

Max tried to open the door. "It's locked."

Iggy let go of Nudge's hand for a brief second, producing a paper clip from his pocket. A few seconds later, there was a click. He pushed the door open and there was darkness. Then, in the middle of the room, this blinding light turned off and Angel stood there, chained to the floor, some kind of contraption over her head.

"Angel!" Nudge screamed.

Someone in a white lab coat stepped out of the shadows.

"Jeb…" Max said under her breath. "No…"

That voice inside my head, it wasn't just a voice. It had been Angel, trying to warn me.

"It's so good to see you all again," Jeb gave us this crooked smile. "A nice little reunion, but I see you've brought friends, Max."

Max growled at him.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble, but I finally realized that you weren't worth anything, that Angel was the one really meant to be of use. She doesn't let her emotions get to her." Jeb stood in front of Angel, his back to us. "Of course she's resistant to accepting that. I've found a way to control her though."

Jeb injected her with something. "It won't be long, but you'll all be gone."

"You betrayed us!" Max said in an outburst. "Why, Jeb? After all you did for us."

He turned to face us. "No, I didn't betray you."

"You left us!" Nudge interjected.

Jeb shook his head. "You'll never understand."

He began to tie a blindfold around Angel.

"What have you done to her?" Gazzy's voice seemed to echo around the room.

"Why, I haven't done much to her," Jeb insister. "Now, if you could have your friends put their guns down and I won't hurt anyone, well, just not yet."

It took a while, but Captain and Teddy put their weapons to the floor.

"I'm glad we've reached some kind of understanding," Jeb said. "Angel, shall we show though them what we've learned over the past couple of years?"

Angel nodded, still blindfolded.

He handed her a knife. "Kill them."

* * *

**Well, then. Is Angel really herself? Hmmm….Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Silence – Chapter 24**

By MyNameIsCAL

**Usually I don't do split POV's for a chapter, but for this one, I will.**

-Fang's POV-

We all took a step back as Angel started towards us, knife outstretched. Max tried saying her name, but she didn't even acknowledge that she recognized us. Maybe it wasn't her I had heard earlier, maybe my paranoia had just been corrected.

"We don't want to hurt you, Angel!" Nudge shouted.

Still, she was walking right towards me. I stood my ground, the only place to back up to was the wall now.

And then Max attacked Jeb.

He threw her to the ground and the others joined him, hoping it would somehow stop Angel, but it wasn't. Teddy was bending forward, reaching for the gun he had hidden under his pants.

But that had been a mistake. As soon as Teddy pulled it out, pointing it at Angel, she lunged forward and stabbed me. As I fell, I reached for the blindfold shielding her eyes and pulled it off. When her eyes met mine, horror struck her face.

And I started to fade away.

* * *

-Max's POV-

"FANG!" I watched him fall to the ground.

Jeb cursed, seeing that Angel was no longer blindfolded. He started to run, and Iggy somehow blocked him, grabbing him by the arms. Teddy pointed his gun at Jeb.

"What did you do to her?" he questioned.

Angel dropped the knife and it clamored against the floor. She fell to the ground now too, as if that when she had stabbed Fang, she had been a different person. I kneeled by him, clamping my hand over his wound. But there was already so much blood. Angel had stabbed him in the throat.

Teddy grew tired of Jeb's cruel smiling, growing on his face, and he knocked him out with the put of his gun.

"I'll get the helicopter," he said, already running out the door. "We've got a stretched in there. There's a hospital about ten minutes away. He's gonna be alright, Max."

"Fang!" I said, trying to stay calm. "You're going to be okay, just look at me."

He blinked, his eyes focusing on me.

"I…I don't know what happened…" Angel was wide eyed, staring at the floor. "Jeb just…I don't know…I don't remember what happened, it's like he controls me…"

I heard the helicopter outside and Teddy came running back with a board. He and Captain moved Fang onto it and we started outside, Iggy and Gazzy dragging Nudge as we wove through the hallways.

* * *

**This is still Max's POV, by the way.**

I don't know how Fang held on, but he did until we got to the hospital. They pulled him into surgery right away and it wasn't a surprise that a doctor came and asked one of us to give blood. I sat in an empty hospital room, the nurse now bandaging my arm as the blood was rushed off to the operating room.

"You might feel lightheaded," the nurse told me.

I stood, feeling a little bit queasy.

"Sit down," the nurse frowned, leaving me.

Teddy came in a few seconds later. "She did tell you to sit down, Max."

"Where are the others?" I managed to ask.

He took a few steps towards me. "In the waiting room."

"Then why are we in here," I muttered.

Reaching the door, I felt my legs shake, and he grabbed me by the arm, assisting me the rest of the way to a waiting room chair. I felt stupid, but none of the flock seemed to notice, and maybe I felt that way because I was angry I hadn't been able to save Fang.

"We have Jeb in custody," Teddy told me, still standing. "Captain has Angel too. He's afraid she'll…well…"

I nodded and Teddy fell silent.

There was nothing much to say. I hadn't the energy to argue to see Angel. It took a lot to not let the tears come, and I watched as Nudge buried her face into Iggy's chest. He wrapped his arms around her slowly, closing his own eyes, and it made me wonder how it felt to feel yourself closing and opening your eyes only to see the same darkness.

"He'll be okay." Gazzy hugged his legs. "Fang always pulls through…He does…"

An hour passed, and then another one without word from the doctor. Gazzy was pacing the waiting room, back and forth, every now and then stopping to look out the window. It made me nervous to think we were on the fifth floor, that he might try to pull something, even though I knew that there was no way he could break through the window by himself.

"Gazzy, will you sit, please," I heard Iggy say.

He turned to face Iggy, hands balled up into fists. "Fang is on some table _dying_ right now, Ig! And you can just sit there, and hope that things are going to be okay, but they're not!"

"Gazzy…"

"No, you shut up too, Nudge!"

I opened my mouth to tell him to calm down, but Captain appeared at the end of the hallway, and we all fell silent.

"Can…Can I talk for you a minute, Max, in private." Captain, no matter the situation, always had this stoic look upon his face.

"With all due respect, Captain," Teddy suddenly spoke up. "But if you've got something to say to Max, you're going to have to tell all of them."

Captain blinked. Rarely did Teddy speak up against authority.

"I talked to the doctor," Captain cleared his throat. "They stabilized Fang. He can't predict how his recovery will go. Right now, there's nothing you can do but wait. The doctor told me that you won't be able to see him until they can stop sedating him."

I let out a sigh.

"We got a room for you at the hotel down the street," Captain went on, his eyes no longer meeting mine. "I brought Angel there. She's been asking to see you and her brother."

"What else aren't you telling me, Captain?" My voice shook.

"There was extensive damage to Fang's throat." Captain was staring at the floor now. "The doctor said that if this was a normal case, it would be highly unlikely that he be able to talk. I told him that it would be different for Fang, and, well, I just don't know what to say to you, Max."

With the loss of words from Captain, hoping that Fang would be okay.


	25. Chapter 25

**Silence – Chapter 25**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

Angel asked to see me first, and so I entered the door where two FBI agents stood. She sat on the bed, her eyes on the floor until I walked in.

I sat next to her and she leaned against me, closing her eyes, tears pouring out.

"I'm sorry, Max," she sobbed.

I let the tears come this time, wrapping my arms around her. She wasn't a little kid anymore. Not the little six year old I remembered.

"No, Angel, it's not your fault," I said, my voice strained.

"I couldn't fight Jeb." Angel shook against me. "I…I didn't have the strength…"

"You're here now, and Fang will be okay, that's all that matters," I whispered.

When the dams rebuilt themselves, Angel pulled away from me and wiped her eyes. I expected her to start talking to me through her thoughts, but she didn't. Instead, she sucked in a breath and stared at the floor.

"How is Gazzy?" Angel asked. "I…I didn't think he survived that."

"You know?"

She nodded. "I filmed what they did to him, Max. How could I ever forget?"

"Gazzy…" I exhaled. "He hasn't been taking things well. And it's starting to get better, but he still can't quite, I don't know, get a grasp on reality."

"And how are Iggy and Nudge?"

"Iggy had trouble adjusting, but he's alright now. He was the reason they escaped. Burned the hospital down. Nudge, well, perhaps she had the easiest time adjusting, or maybe it was because she was trying to hold Iggy together."

Angel closed her eyes. "And Fang?"

"He's going to be okay. He'll be out of the hospital before you know it, like nothing ever happened at all. Fang won't be mad at you. It wasn't your fault."

She curled up into a ball on the bed. "I can't read minds anymore, Max."

"W…what?"

"Whatever Jeb did to me so he could control me and use me to control others…it took away my ability to hear your thoughts. I mean, I can direct thoughts to people, but it takes a lot for me to pick up on anything a person's thinking."

"I'm sorry, Angel…"

She turned away from me. "Like you said, all that matters is that we'll be okay."

* * *

It would be days before I saw Fang, but having Angel back kept us grounded. She reminded us that all wasn't lost, that things would improve.

But Fang was on all of our minds, and the doctor said we couldn't see him until things were in a definite state of stability. Teddy said that the doctor claimed there was improvement, far faster than any human, but still, there was damage, and unable to breathe on his own yet, bringing anyone around could cause complications.

The FBI was busy though. Jeb had tons of files with him on a computer that he had. Teddy said that there was enough information to keep them searching for years for other people experimenting on humans, that it was possible that the FBI might even create a task force to dedicate its time to it.

"Maybe that'll be a new job for me," he said, trying to keep me distracted from Fang. "And I can make a difference."

"You've already made a difference," I reminded him.

He gave me a wry smile.

A week and a half passed until the day finally came when Teddy approached me, saying that he was going to take me to the hospital. When I asked about the others, he shook his head and told me it was best if it was just me, that the doctor would only let one person see Fang anyway, so I gave in and went.

It didn't take long to reach the hospital, but I still got this feeling that there was something Teddy wasn't telling me. The doctor was already waiting for us when we got there, standing outside Fang's room.

He introduced himself, shaking my hand. Dr. Huber, he said his name was. And as I expected, he began to tell me how incredible it was that Fang could heal so fast, that Fang was extremely lucky to be alive. Then the rundown came.

"There extensive damage to the part of his throat that allows us to talk," the doctor let out a breath. "Right now, there hasn't been any sign of that healing properly, but I can't predict anything, not the way things have been going with your friend. It's quite possible it might repair itself in time."

I felt weak suddenly, and Teddy grabbed me by the arm.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Huber said quietly. "I wish there was more I could do."

He opened the door for me, and I went in. Teddy said he'd wait outside, and closed the door after me.

Fang was awake, his eyes jumping to me immediately. He moved over, making room for me next to him on the bed. I sat, and he leaned against me, closing his eyes, tears flowing out.

"I'm so sorry, Fang." I put my arms around him, and he shook against me.

* * *

**I hope you all have a good weekend. If you're in school and your school happens to be nice enough to give you Columbus Day off, then enjoy that too! Although, I'm not sure why we'd want to celebrate invading the land the Indians owned and taking it from them =P**

**I'll be off to comic con tomorrow! I'm excited. Should have a new update in the next week or so for this story. As always, I've got a ton of other stories you can check out and read. Well, until the next chapter!  
**


	26. Chapter 26

**Silence – Chapter 26**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

A few more days, and I'd be out of the hospital. I would be heading home. And to think that not being able to talk wouldn't be any different than me not talking before was wrong. I had been so stubborn with my vow of silence, and to think that Max would never hear my voice again was going to kill me slowly.

I didn't want to see the others, not until I had to. It gave Max a reason to get out of the hospital too so she could go check up on them. There was no reason she had to subject herself to coming here and staying here for hours and hours every day. It only made me feel worse.

"The doctor said we can get you out of here tomorrow," Max told me.

I looked up at her and then down at the sheets.

"It'll be nice to finally go home." She was only trying to reassure herself now, and so I nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'll see you in the morning, okay?" Max leaned down and kissed me on the forehead.

I watched her go and then closed my eyes.

When I woke up the next morning, there were fresh clothes waiting for me. Max was out in the hall, talking to Teddy. He noticed that I was awake before she did, and he stopped mid sentence, motioning to me. Max came in and gave me a smile, one I struggled to return.

I changed into my new clothes and Max took my hand, leading me out. We followed Teddy to the car.

"We have to go to the hotel to pick the others up," Max informed me. "It's about a two hour ride back to home."

I said nothing and got into the car.

Captain was waiting outside the hotel with Iggy, Nudge, Gazzy, and Angel. Gazzy made a mad dash towards us, and I got out of the car to let them in. He took me by the wrist and pushed up my sleeve, his check to see that I was really me. And then he looked up at me.

"I'm sorry, Fang." Then he let go of my hand and got into the car.

"I'm glad you're…okay," Nudge said hesitantly, patting my arm.

I nodded and she stood there for another moment with Iggy. He wanted to say something, but he closed his mouth after a while and let Nudge lead him into the car.

Angel was the last to get in, standing, looking almost afraid of me. I wished I could tell her I wasn't mad at her. There were a lot of things I had wanted to say to everyone, but I no longer could, not in the way that I wanted to. Writing it down wouldn't convey the way I wanted it to feel. I almost wished Angel could read my mind.

"I…I don't even think any apology I could think up of would make up for any of this." Angel's eyes fell to the floor.

Then she got into the car, taking a seat next to her brother. It was going to be a long ride home.

* * *

I stood in front of the mirror. We had gotten home an hour ago and I needed to wash the smell of the hospital off my skin. Max had brought clothes into the bathroom for me halfway through my shower, a collared shirt as I had requested. There was a scar on my neck, and I ran my fingers across it, staring at myself in the fogged mirror. The other scars almost seemed irrelevant, even though I could remember how almost every single one came to be.

Pulling on my clothes, I exited to the bedroom. The door to the hall was closed, but I could still smell food being cooked. After taking in a breath, I opened the door.

"This is mine?" I heard Angel ask.

"Yeah, I got the room right next to yours," Gazzy replied. "Maybe I should move my bed to the opposite wall so you can't read my thoughts."

Angel gave him a strained smile. He had already forgotten that she couldn't read our minds anymore. But it was the way he still talked about flying. We were finally all together, and Jeb was locked up by the FBI, and still, none of this felt right.

Gazzy turned and took a few steps towards me.

I rolled my sleeve up before he could reach me.

He addressed me, certain that I was really who I was, and it made me wonder if he'd ever grow out of doing that. "Iggy's making dinner. It should be ready soon. I'm gonna go to the kitchen now."

And he turned, leaving me alone with Angel.

"Does…does he always do that?" Angel asked me, motioning to my arm.

I nodded.

"Those scars…never mind." Angel disappeared into her room.

"Fang, are you okay?"

I looked up, Max now making her way towards me. My mouth opened, ready to give her a response. And it didn't even make sense to me. I had grown accustomed to not talking, to answering by writing.

She put her arms around me. "I'm sorry, Fang. I…I…"

I rested my arms around her, closing my eyes.

"I've got…I've got a pad of paper and a pen for you, if you want," Max managed to say after a while.

I nodded again, the only real response I could give besides a shrug or a headshake. Max slipped her hand into mine and led the way down the hall.

Iggy was in the kitchen, sounding upset as we approached. He didn't even notice our presence when we entered.

"I mean, we won't even be able to communicate with each other, Nudge!" He hit the table with his fist. "How am I supposed to live with that?"

I put a hand on his shoulder and he froze up.

"It's not fair." The words escaped Iggy's mouth, just barely. "Not after all you did for us, Fang."

No, it wasn't fair. None of this was fair, and I could have given up, I could have shut down and detached myself from the world. I squeezed Iggy's shoulder, hoping it would give him some kind of sign.

"I'm sorry, Fang." And he leaned against me, crying.


	27. Chapter 27

**Silence – Chapter 27**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

While the rest of the world was preparing for the holidays, we shut them out, trying to find our way to some kind of normality. It was going to be a cold winter this year, especially since the weather here when it got cold was milder than it was in places more north.

Teddy came by every few days to check up on us and update us on the investigation. Although Iggy claimed he'd hear a car pull up the unpaved path, and I suspected that Teddy still drove up here to make sure nothing was wrong, even if he didn't come inside. I couldn't tell if it bothered Fang or not, but lately he seemed indifferent to things, like he was hiding how he really felt.

Angel on the other hand was making it very clear she was going to avoid Fang at all costs. She was afraid of him, and I couldn't understand why, but then again, she just seemed so scared all the time. It was like the loss of her mind reading had made her vulnerable to the world because everything was unpredictable now, and one would think that was a good thing, but it was too much change for her, and too much change for all of us to handle at once. Honestly, if Fang could talk, he would have found a way to tell her that he had forgiven her a long time ago.

Nudge was adjusting to this the best. And when Angel was absent when Gazzy hung around with Fang, she'd keep him together, along with Iggy who had grown frustrated that he would have no way to directly communicate with Fang. It was disheartening to watch Iggy and Fang have a conversation through Nudge, or even through me. There was something lessening about it, and so Fang and Iggy were slowly sliding away from communicating with each other.

Gazzy had his good days and bad days. He wasn't totally with it, and that was another hard thing to grasp at. There were days where Angel would refuse to talk to any of us, and those became the hardest on Gazzy. Sometimes he'd scream at Fang for not talking. But even on good days his insecurity remained. Every time before Gazzy spoke to Fang, he would check for the scars he had left on Fang's arm, like they might disappear one day and Fang would become a different person.

"It's cold! Why the hell do you want to go to the beach?" Iggy shook his head on hearing Nudge's request.

"Because I think it would be good for all of us to get some air and to remind ourselves the world still exists out there." Nudge always managed not to let Iggy's newly acquired quick temper to put her down, and it was probably because later Iggy always apologized.

"We won't be able to go without…the FBI." Gazzy ran a hand through his hair. It needed to be cut, and its length almost made him appear crazy.

"Well, I'd be happy to take you," Teddy offered.

Angel spoke up. "I think that would be nice."

When I glanced at Fang, he nodded.

* * *

Teddy drove us down to the beach the next day. We weren't quite yet allowed to go anywhere without an escort, although usually if any of us left, it was just Fang and me to go get some groceries with Teddy. Occasionally Nudge and Iggy would go. Once we had went to the mall to purchase clothes, but leaving home proved to move us from solid ground, and you would think we'd be used to it since we could fly.

Fang had wrapped a scarf around his neck, one Nudge had picked out for him. It only seemed to intensify his dark gaze, and I wondered if Nudge had purposely picked that color to have that effect.

Gazzy and Angel sat on a blanket, eating the sandwiches Iggy had prepared the night before. Iggy was lying back on the sand, Nudge next to him, their eyes closed. As much as Iggy had protested coming here because of the cold, I knew the beach was one of his favorite places to be.

I walked along the edge of the ocean with Fang, barefoot and letting the cold water touch our toes before receding back. We stopped, looking out to the sea, a few boats on the horizon. He put his arm around me, and I glanced up at him, his eyes full of this profound sadness that he could no longer hide.

"Can we sit here for a while?" I asked him.

He nodded, and we backed up a step, taking a seat in the dry sand. His wings settled around us, and even though I was probably imagining it, there seemed to be a new warmth surrounding us.

I rested my head on his shoulder, closing my eyes. It wasn't long after until his head settled against mine, and I slipped my hand into his. Hours or years could have passed as we sat there, and I wondered what he was thinking about. I almost wished I could ask him.

"Do you remember Hawaii?" I breathed out, staring back out at the ocean now. "I don't know. The ocean made me think of it. I don't mean to ask you questions. I mean, I don't mean to make you feel bad. Just, if you ever want me to stop talking, knock me out, or something, alright?"

Fang frowned.

"I'm sorry." I shook my head. "It's just, I waited so long to get you all back, and I missed talking to you, but you can't even talk back to me, and it's not that I'm disappointed, it's just, I guess I still want to talk. Just to know you're listening is enough for me, Fang. I don't want to make things awkward or to make you feel uncomfortable. Jeez, I sound like Nudge now talking, you must hate…"

Fang was tugging at my sleeve.

"I'm sorry," I repeated, but he pulled at my sleeve again, pointing to the sand.

In my ramble, I hadn't noticed that Fang had picked up a stick, writing something in the sand for me to read.

_I love you, Max_, it read.

"I…I love you too, Fang." I looked up at him, our eyes meeting, and before I could say anything more, I realized I was crying. It wasn't out of sadness though because I was smiling at him.

He wiped my tears, returning a smile too, the sadness I had seen in his eyes before was fading. Fang wrapped his arms around me, and for that moment, things didn't seem so lost anymore.


	28. Chapter 28

**Silence – Chapter 28**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

The holidays were gone, but the cold remained and since California wasn't prone to snow, it had been raining for a whole week straight with no signs of letting up. The weather was taking its toll on the flock too. We were restless, already stuck here mostly because the FBI was still afraid we'd get snatched up off the street or something.

Fang kept to himself mostly. He was struggling with the fact that Angel still didn't believe that he had forgiven her. And it was hard for the others to treat him the same as before. Although Fang admitted it was silly for him to be so upset one night when we were up having a conversation. He wrote how he had spent all that time not talking, that it shouldn't have even made a difference now.

_Jeb may not have killed us, but he sure as hell got what he wanted_, Fang had written.

I told him not to think about it that way, but Fang only shook his head, ending the discussion by putting the paper and pen away.

The day that we had been at the beach seemed so long ago. I felt like things were slipping away again, gradually.

We sat watching TV, minus Fang who was still in bed. Iggy looked deep in thought, Nudge snuggled in his arms. She had her head against his chest, eyes on the TV, looking tired. I was used to her narrating whatever we were watching, but even her chatter seemed to die down with everyone's moods.

"Is Fang okay, Max?" Gazzy suddenly asked, turning to face me. "I…I barely see him anymore."

"He's just…."

Gazzy cut me off. "I'm not stupid, Max. He still feels he doesn't fit in."

I closed my mouth, unsure of how to respond.

"And it's mostly because of Angel," Gazzy pressed on, his attention turning to Angel. "Why can't you just accept that he forgives you? Things would be easier. He wouldn't be shutting us out if it weren't for you and your denial."

Angel ignored him, eyes fixated on the TV like no one was even talking to her.

"Angel, will you listen for once?" Gazzy jumped up off the couch. "At least you can still fly! Who needs mind reading? I mean, you can still talk, and Fang can't. Shouldn't we be trying to help him? We're family, and isn't that what family's for? Remember all those nights we fought through, and how you told me that Max would come for us, or that Fang would find a way, that they cared about us too much to let us go. What happened to that, Ange?"

"Things change." Angel stared up at him. "He doesn't want our help, Gazzy! He wants to be left alone."

"No." Gazzy shook his head. "You just can't handle not being able to tell how everybody feels without getting inside their heads. It's hard, I get it. _We get it_. But he needs to know that we don't think anything less of him! We can't treat him like he's some five year old that needs his hand held! I mean, we don't treat Iggy like that because he's blind. Sure, he needs help, and sometimes we can frustrate him, but he knows we care, and that's what counts, right, Ig?"

Iggy agreed, his eyes seeming to focus just for a moment. "He's right, Angel."

"You're the one in denial!" Angel suddenly shot back at Gazzy. "And you need just as much help as he does! You've changed."

Gazzy backed away. "So have you."

And then he ran down the hall.

"I'll go after him," I muttered, resisting the urge to yell at Angel. Iggy let out a sigh, allowing Nudge to settle back against him.

Gazzy wasn't in his room like I had expected him to be. Instead, he was in my room, clutching onto Fang and sobbing uncontrollably. Fang was grasping onto Gazzy, trying to hold him from sliding to the ground. His expression was questioning me. _What happened?_

"Fang, I don't want you to hate us!" Gazzy cried. "I don't want you to hate Angel."

"He doesn't hate Angel," I said, resting my hand against his back in an effort to comfort him.

Fang nodded, but Gazzy only started to sob harder. "I don't want to lose any of you."

Angel had just shattered that hope Gazzy was hanging onto. She had added doubt to the worry he already had. I knew she wasn't thinking straight either, but part of me knew that she was angry at us, and angry at herself.

"We're not going anywhere without a fight," I promised him.

Gazzy broke away from Fang. He wasn't a little kid anymore, but I still felt like we were how we were those many years ago, when he and Angel would wake up from nightmares, and I'd have to tell them it wasn't real. The only problem was I couldn't use that to comfort him now.

And then suddenly, Gazzy gave me a hug.

"Thank you," he managed to say, and then before I could say anything, he was gone and I heard the door to his room shut.

Fang and I stared at each other for a while, feeling dazed. It took him a while, but he reached for his notepad, writing slowly, his hand a little unsteady.

_Let's go for a walk_.

I thought I had read Fang's words wrong, but he took my hand and led me down the hall, taking a roundabout way to the back door so we wouldn't pass the others.

It was pouring down rain, but I still continued to walk with him until we reached the edge of the property. He pulled me into a hug, chin resting on the top of my head. It took me a minute to realize he was crying, shaking against me. I put my arms around him and he squeezed me closer, his weight against me.

I realized he had brought me out here because he didn't want the flock to see him breakdown like this, and I understood why. He was trying to be strong, in order to win his acceptance back, or Angel's acceptance anyway. Whatever emotions he had been hiding before were finally spilling out, and there was nothing I could say that would make him feel better.

The rain had soaked through our clothes long ago, mixing with our tears. It was freezing out here too, only making Fang's shaking worse as he shuddered against me.

"I know it's hard, Fang," I said, hoping that I'd be able to clam him. "Angel's stubborn. And she's coping too. We all are. But we'll make it through this. Just…we need time, and a little strength to endure everything. Whatever happens, we get through it together though. Don't you ever forget that."

I felt Fang nod and then he broke away from me, his hand sliding into mine, the other wiping his tears and the rain. We stared off into the distance for a while, in awe of the crackling lightning, maybe a little too numb from the swelling emotions to head back inside.

It could have been years later, but when we did head back inside, Fang slipped past the others once more, leaving me in the kitchen with Teddy who must have arrived when we were outside.

"Is he okay?" Teddy asked.

I pulled a towel out of the washroom and began to try myself off. "I don't know."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Teddy."

He looked like he wanted to say more, but I left him, hearing Fang turn the shower on. I set out fresh clothes for him on the bed and then went back to the kitchen, finding Teddy making coffee. I sat, ignoring the puddle I was now creating around the chair.

"Max…" Teddy sat down across from me, but then trailed off, like he wasn't sure of what he was saying now.

"What, Teddy?"

"I…I just wish I could help you."

My patience was wearing thin with Teddy. "You've already been helping us, Teddy."

He nodded, getting up and returning to the coffee maker to pour some for us. Teddy set a mug down in front of me and we drank in silence.

* * *

**Sorry for not updating for so long. I'll be working on the next chapter though, and it'll be up real soon.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Silence – Chapter 29**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

Fang was trying to find his way back to fitting in, and I felt bad because Iggy was really the only one who went out of their way to try to have a conversation, and Iggy obviously couldn't see, which made it all the harder on the both of them. Gazzy worried about Fang though, and he often asked about him, but I think Gazzy's nerves got the best of him, and he'd ramble off something to Fang, wait for a response, and dash off quickly.

"I'm sorry, Fang." Iggy said. They were sitting at the kitchen table, Iggy trying to come up with some way to communicate. "I…I can just stop talking, you know, if it makes you uncomfortable."

Fang let out a sigh, tugging my sleeve to get my attention before scribbling something down on a piece of paper.

_Tell him I appreciate what he's doing_, he wrote.

"Fang says he appreciates what you're doing, Ig," I said.

Iggy gave him a strained smile. "Of course…just…I wish…I don't know."

But I knew exactly what he was trying to say. The others only spoke to Fang when they had too, and it seemed ironic that Iggy was the only one trying to find a way to establish normal communication, where it didn't seem so different that Fang couldn't talk.

"Well, I better start making dinner now." Iggy stood. "Anything in particular you want, Fang?"

Fang usually said he didn't care what we ate because the rest of us couldn't really cook, so we had no right to choose or complain, but Iggy's tone of voice was different, as if he was asking Fang to choose for his own sanity.

It took Fang a moment, but he pressed the pen to the paper.

_I could go for some pizza actually. Homemade pizza_.

Iggy gave him a grin.

_Tell him I'll help him make it_, Fang added.

I told Iggy.

"Well, if you'd like," Iggy looked a little surprised.

Fang nodded, and I sat and watched them, wishing there was more I could do for the two of them.

* * *

"Fang, you should have told me if you didn't feel good." I sat on the edge of the bed, feeling his forehead. "I mean, what if it ended up being something serious, and would never know what happened."

He wasn't happy about this, and I hated to mother him, but he had a fever. It was probably from his lack of sleep and the cold weather that still loomed. He turned his back to me, pulling the blanket over his head.

"I'm sorry, Fang, I just…I worry too much." I stood up, heading to the door. "Iggy is making soup for you. I'll bring it when it's done."

After another moment, I left him, finding the others in the kitchen with Teddy.

"Hey, Max."

"Hi, Teddy." I slid into one of the empty chairs, next to Gazzy.

"How's Fang, Max?" Gazzy questioned, cutting Teddy off.

"He'll be fine," I assured him.

Gazzy frowned.

"Now, what were you saying, Teddy?" I rubbed my eyes, feeling a headache coming on.

"Well, Captain says he needs all of you to come in for a little more questioning," he answered. "But it can wait until Fang's feeling better. I can take you all somewhere after."

"So what's going on with Jeb?" Gazzy cut in once again.

Teddy gulped. "I'm not quite at liberty to tell you that."

Gazzy shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't trust you and the government."

"It's ok." Teddy only looked mildly hurt. "A lot of people don't. If I were you, I wouldn't either."

"Hey, Max, the soup is ready. Take some to Fang." Iggy pulled out a tray. "Can you spoon it into the bowl?"

"Of course." I take the ladle and fill a bowl. Gazzy offered to help Iggy feed everyone else, so I take the tray with a bowl for Fang and a bowl for me back to my room.

Fang sat up as soon as I came in. His hair was going in fifty different directions and his eyes gave away how exhausted he was. I took a seat on my side of the bed, balancing the tray between us.

_You can go eat with the others_, he wrote.

I shook my head. "I'm not going to leave you here to eat by yourself. Besides, Teddy is here."

He raised an eyebrow. _What's he want now?_

"FBI has a few more questions for us. We have to go into their headquarters, but Teddy said when you're feeling up to it."

Fang nodded, putting the paper down and picking up his spoon. We ate slowly, and I wondered if I should try to talk about something. After we finished eating, I set the tray down on the desk and went back to the bed. Fang, radiating heat because of his fever, wrapped his arms around me, chin rough against my neck from his lack of shaving.

"You should get some rest, Fang. It's the only way you'll kick it," I muttered, feeling myself relax against him. And before I knew, we had fallen asleep.

* * *

**A little filler here. But next chapter will put some tension in, Jeb surfacing back and causing trouble once more, even in the custody of the FBI. Then I'll start wrapping things up. Thanks for reading, as always! **


	30. Chapter 30

**Silence – Chapter 30**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Fang's POV-

We sat waiting around in the FBI office. Teddy was going to see when the captain was ready to speak to us, and Max held my hand, anxiously waiting.

And then Jeb suddenly burst through one of the closed doors.

"I can help you!" He dashed towards us, just out of reach of the FBI agents. "Listen to me!"

He almost had this crazed look in his eyes. The agents grabbed him before he could claw at my shirt.

"You don't understand!" Jeb was still shouting, resisting the agents. "Fang, I can help you get your voice back."

I shook my head.

"You're stubborn!" He kneed one of the agents between the legs, managing to break free for just a moment. "What about you, Iggy? What if I told you I could help you see again? What if I could give you your wings back, Gazzy? Or your ability to read minds, Angel?"

I wished I could scream at Jeb, but I couldn't, and so I let my anger take over, reaching out and pulling Jeb to the floor by the collar of his shirt. Before I could raise a fist, Teddy was pulling me off of Jeb.

"How did he get out?" Teddy handcuffed Jeb. "He wasn't even supposed to be here!"

Everyone stared at Teddy. They didn't have an answer from him.

"You FBI people are idiots." Jeb spat in Teddy's face, throwing a kick at him, but I grabbed him and pulled him back. Jeb fell to the floor with a loud thud, cursing in pain because he couldn't break his fall with his hands handcuffed behind his back.

Teddy took in a deep breath, muttering a thank you and an apology to me before dragging Jeb back to the room he came from. I retook my seat. The rest of the flock looked startled, and I realized what Jeb had just said was running through their heads.

"Wh—what if he can really do what he says?" Iggy questioned.

I put my hand over his wrist and squeezed twice. It was my way of saying no to him.

"He's messing with us." Iggy let out a sigh.

He didn't need a response from me about that.

* * *

We sat in the corner of a restaurant, waiting for our food to come. The captain had just wanted to ask a few things about us that needed to be documented. Angel had to state what her name would be legally, and we also found ourselves being questioned about the school from a long time ago.

But Jeb had riled everyone up. I knew Gazzy was thinking about it, the way he couldn't sit still next to me. Max had one hand in mine, the other resting on my arm. She was thinking too.

"Fang?"

I turned to Gazzy.

"I want to fly again."

"Gazzy, Jeb's just trying to mess with us," Iggy interjected.

But Gazzy ignored Iggy. "Aren't you tired of not talking, Fang? I mean, you're going to spend your whole life speechless? Doesn't it hurt?"

I tried not to show any reaction to what he had just said.

"Iggy could finally have a chance to see! Then you could finally communicate with each other. Wouldn't that be great?" Gazzy grabbed me by the arm. "Or even if Angel could read minds again, then she could help you talk to the rest of us!"

"Gazzy, that's enough." Angel broke in now.

"It will _never_ be enough, Angel!" He raised his voice. "We will always just be a bunch or sad freaks that everyone will pity for the rest of our lives! Look at us, we're pathetic."

"Don't say that, Gazzy." Nudge looked afraid that Gazzy might do something. "We're going to be fine."

"C'mon, Fang. How're you going ask Max to marry you?" His grip tightened around my arm. "You're just going to live your whole life with her holding your hand, trying to speak for you?"

Before I could react he released my arm and jumped onto the table. Everyone was staring at us now.

"Gazzy, get down!" Angel exclaimed. "Can we just enjoy our lunch? We can talk about this later."

"No, I'm done! You all stay away from me! I'm going to find a way to fix all of this!" He jumped off the table. Teddy tried to grab him, but he socked Teddy in the face.

I pushed past Max and started to go after him, Iggy following behind me. He was outrunning us, but I didn't want to fly. It would only make him angrier. And then he got into a taxi, and we were stuck on the corner watching it speed away as cars flew past us.

"Shit." Iggy balled up his fists. "Where are we?"

I stared at Iggy.

"Right." He let out a breath. "The blindo and the one who can't talk are stuck together. Do you remember which way we came from?"

I tapped his hand twice. _No._

"Shit," he repeated. "Guess we'll just wait 'til the others find us."

We sat on a nearby bench. I watched the cars go by, Iggy sitting, still fuming.

"What if the kid is right, Fang?" He questioned. "Look at us, we're not happy. We're falling apart. But you know, I've given up on seeing a long time ago. And I'd pass up the chance of sight to give Gazzy his wings back, or to have you talk again."

I let out a sigh, wishing I could respond.

"Gazzy sees our unhappiness," Iggy shook his head. "It's unfortunate it hits him so hard. He'll come back though, I know he will."

A day could have passed, but Max finally found us, Teddy's car pulling up next to the curb. She got out, hugged Iggy, and then hugged me. Iggy told them that Gazzy made a getaway in a taxi.

"We should go home," Iggy told her. "I think he's just going to come back."

She nodded, and so home we went, a little more hurt and wounded than yesterday.

* * *

**I'm putting this at the end of the chapters I update over the next few days just as a statement now that I've finished reading the newest Max Ride book, **_**Angel**_**.**

**My honest opinion is that it was good. It lived up to my realistic expectations, although I find myself a little frustrated because it's not exactly what I wanted. But there's still one more book, you must remember when you're reading it. The ending needs to be good, or we'll be left with a feeling that all this was wasted.**

**Just a suggestion, don't go into reading **_**Angel**_** with a hatred for any of the characters. Take a deep breath and let them speak for themselves, and you'll realize that things may be complicated, but Patterson is definitely setting up an ending that could be good (as I'm hoping), or it could be a disaster, but let's not ponder that because no matter what happens, I'll still be sitting here writing fanfics until people stop reading and reviewing them.**

**My inbox is opened for opinions once you've read **_**Angel**_**. I'd like to know how you felt about it.**

**And thanks for reading, as always. I'll be sure to update soon**

**}MyNameIsCAL{**


	31. Chapter 31

**Silence – Chapter 31**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

Fang paced the room. There was a storm coming and there hadn't been any sign of Gazzy. Iggy was in the kitchen trying to make cookies with Nudge and Angel, trying to keep them occupied. While Iggy was sure Gazzy would come back eventually, Fang was afraid that Gazzy had ran away. Worst-case scenarios were running through his head, I could tell. Teddy called a few minutes ago. He had FBI agents driving through the city, but they hadn't picked up on anything.

_BOOM!_

I almost jumped off the couch, the lights flickered and then went out.

"_Goddamnit_." Iggy growled.

Fang let out a grunt, sitting next to me, his hand finding mine quickly. It was dark, and it took a second for my eyes to adjust.

"Max, do you have flashlights?" Nudge asked.

"Uhm, there should be one in the kitchen drawer. Look around."

Iggy was still cursing how his cookies were ruined now that the oven had no power. Nudge was opening and closing all the drawers, and then finally she found it, switching it on, giving us a little bit of light.

"IGGY WILL YOU STOP CURSING!"

I had never heard Angel yell like that before.

"YOU KNOW WHAT ANGEL, I TIRED OF YOUR BULLSHIT!"

Fang let go of my hand, rising off the couch. I followed him to the kitchen.

"YOU'RE NOT EVEN WORRIED ABOUT YOUR BROTHER!" Iggy roared. "MAYBE WE WOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF NOT FINDING YOU! THEN FANG WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN HURT AND MAYBE WE'D ALL BE HAPPIER _WITHOUT YOU_!"

Angel jumped up, torpedoing herself at Ig. They fell to floor.

"I think you're selfish, Angel." Iggy wasn't fighting back. "You don't want us to be happy. You want us to suffer _just like you are_. You think we haven't suffered enough? We're fucking lucky to be alive!"

She punched him across the face, his nose now spewing blood. He made a blind grab for her wrists, but she dodge his grasp, throwing another punch.

"Go ahead, kill me, you coward!"

"Iggy, that's enough!" Nudge pleaded. "Angel, stop!"

Angel raised her fist again.

"PUNCH ME AGAIN! I DARE YOU!"

Angel threw another punch. Fang finally grabbed Angel, pulling her off of Angel. Nudge kneeled down next to Iggy, pulling him up into sitting position.

"I hate you!" Angel spat in Fang's face.

Fang let go of her and she ran off, heading towards the backdoor.

"I'm fine!" Iggy pushed Nudge away.

"Iggy!" Nudge snapped.

He fell silent, letting Nudge clean him up. I turned to Fang.

"Hey, are you okay?" I walked slowly towards him. "Fang?"

He shook his head, sliding into a chair.

"Iggy, stop moving and just hold this over your nose!" Nudge sounded exasperated. "C'mon."

I took a seat next to Fang. Before I could open my mouth, the lights flickered back on.

"Oh jeez, Iggy, are you okay?" All that blood made me want to pass out. Fang had closed his eyes, head turned away.

Nudge looked pale. "I think…I think we need to take him to the hospital."

I fumbled, dialing Teddy.

* * *

Iggy was asleep on the couch now, slouched against Nudge. We had gotten back from the hospital about an hour ago. His nose had to be realigned and the pain had put him in a foul mood. It was almost a relief that he was asleep.

Fang had his arms around me, chin rested on my shoulder, fingers laced through mine. The news was on mute, and we stared as images flickered across the screen. It was almost one in the morning now and we were still waiting up for Gazzy or Angel to return. The storm was still raging outside, a downpour and thunder all at once.

"I can stay here," Nudge spoke up. "Why don't you two go to bed?"

Fang let out a sigh. I stood, ready to take his hand, but there was a loud banging. He bolted towards the back door. When I reached him, Gazzy stood, pulling up his sleeve.

"Gazzy!" I exclaimed.

His eyes flickered to me. "Max!"

He staggered towards me.

Fang closed the door, pulling his sleeve down.

"Are you okay?" I asked Gazzy as he flung his arms around me.

"I…I walked up the mountain." He shook against me. "Cuz of the storm."

I let out a breath. "Jeez, you scared the hell out of us."

"I'm s—sorry," Gazzy stuttered. "The rain's sorta cold."

Fang moved past us and grabbed I blanket. I wrapped it around Gazzy. "C'mon, why don't you go shower and get some rest?"

He nodded, his eyes falling on Fang.

"I'm—I'm sorry, Fang." Gazzy stared up at Fang. "I…"

Fang ruffled his hair.

Gazzy shivered. "Where's…where's Angel?"

"The power went earlier." I cleared my throat, hoping he'd take the news well. "Iggy and her had a fight. She sort of beat him up and then took off."

The Gasman frowned. "She beat up Iggy?"

Fang nodded.

"She hasn't come back?"

Fang shook his head now.

"Okay." Gazzy started to walk past us. "I'm…I'm going to sh…sh…shower."

I felt like crying, and Fang must have sensed this because he pulled me into a hug, and I rested my head against his chest, feeling more lost than ever.


	32. Chapter 32

**Silence – Chapter 32**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

Angel was still gone the next morning. Fang sat quietly, this look of sadness in his eyes when I awoke. I wriggled closer to him, resting my head against his leg. He rested his hand on my arm, letting out a sigh, his eyes still fixed outside the window.

"Fang…" I sat up, and he turned to face me, his eyes trying to hide his look of despair.

He had his notepad in his lap. Slowly, he started to write.

_Max, I don't know how much longer I can go on like this_.

I took his hand, forcing him to meet my eyes. "Fang, if you think I'm unhappy, then you're wrong."

He closed his eyes, breathing out.

"Fang." I turned his head back to me, resting my hand on his cheek. "I don't love you any less because you can't talk."

His eyes twinkled for a moment, hand now resting over mine.

"Fang…"

But he pressed a finger to my lips and then leaned forwards and kissed me. We fell back onto the bed, slowly. Fang wove his fingers between mine, body pressed up against me. He gave me a smile as we came up for air. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him down, whispering into his ear, "I love you, Fang."

He smiled against my neck, breathing out slowly, and we lay there like that for a while. I ran my fingers through his hair, closing my eyes, wishing we could have stayed like that forever.

* * *

Iggy apologized to both fang and Gazzy as we gathered for lunch, but none of us were really up for any discussion, so we sat without talking. Gazzy finished quickly, and then disappeared to his room. He looked more tired than upset though, and like we had about Gazzy, we all thought Angel would return soon.

And then the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it." I rose out of my chair and made my way slowly to the front door. Teddy pulled me into a hug as soon as I let him in.

"Max," he said quietly. "Don't freak out when I tell you this, but Jeb escaped last night, and we're doing everything we can to find him, but I've been suspecting Angel's involved."

I wanted to push him away, but he only meant well, so I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. "Involved how?"

"She may have been the one that got him out, but it I don't believe it was on her own accord. It was probably like the way Jeb had made her stab Fang." Teddy rubbed my back. "I'm really sorry, Max."

That was when Fang stepped into the hallway. I made the mistake of pushing Teddy away quickly, and Fang took off down the hallway.

"Oh, crap." Teddy shook his head, seeing what he had done. "I…I didn't think…"

I started after Fang. "It's okay, Teddy."

But Fang slammed the door in my face, and I pressed my forehead against it, remembering our morning, and how perfect it had been.

"Fang." I closed my eyes. "I'm sorry, but it wasn't what you thought. I still haven't forgotten about this morning. I still haven't forgotten about all we've been through."

I breathed out, hoping he'd open the door. Finally, he did, and I almost fell forward. He caught me, steadying me.

I pulled him into a hug, and his arms came around me, strong, his chin on the top of my head. Finally, I spoke to him again. "Did you hear what he said to me?"

Fang nodded, taking my hand. We sat on the edge of the bed, and he reached for his notepad.

_I don't mean to get jealous that easily. It's just I forget you've spent the last couple of years with Teddy._ Fang paused and then continued to write. _I don't hate him. I owe him a lot actually_.

Before I could open my mouth to say something, Gazzy entered the room, already moving to Fang. Before Gazzy could grab Fang's sleeve, Fang pulled it up and Gazzy dropped his hands, eyes moving to me now.

"What's Teddy doing here?" he questioned.

"Jeb's gone. Your sister might be involved." I let out a sigh. "They're afraid Jeb might come here and try to hurt us."

Gazzy seemed dazed for a moment. "Teddy wants to speak to you when you've got the chance."

I nodded and Gazzy left the room.

* * *

I had fallen asleep on the couch. Someone had thrown a blanket over me. Feeling sore, I got up and stretched. Teddy was on the armchair, slouched over. I crept past him, and Iggy and Nudge who were curled up on the other armchair together, and shut off the TV. Fang must have put the blanket over me and ventured back to the bedroom to sleep more comfortably.

"Fang?" I flipped the lights on.

The bed was empty as it had been when we left it this morning. Panic set in.

"Fang!"

There was a note on the bed, tucked just underneath the blankets. It had been torn off of Fang's notepad.

_Max,_

_ I'm sorry, but it was I who broke Jeb out. He promised he would fix Fang. That he could help me and Gazzy too._

There was an address scribbled at the bottom of the paper.

_This is where we are. Jeb says you should come. I'm sorry, again._

_-Angel_.

I read the note again. She was trying to make up for all the trouble she had caused. It was hard to believe Fang had gone willingly with Angel. Gazzy, well, I couldn't say the same for him.

"Max?" teddy appeared in the doorway. "Hey, where's Fang and Gazzy?"

I could only hold the paper up to him.

"Wake the others." He handed it back to me. "I'll wait for you in the car."

It took a while to rouse Iggy, but as soon as _gone_ and _Fang, Gazzy, Angel, _and_, Jeb_ connected in his mind, he grabbed Nudge by the hand and we hurried to Teddy.

"I didn't hear anything!" Iggy was already blaming himself.

"We don't even know how they got out." Nudge insisted. "Calm down, Ig."

Teddy was on the phone with captain. We had just reached the outskirts of town, speeding into the city. It seemed like they were sending an army of people there. Teddy finally hung up.

"Ok, I need all of you to listen to me closely." He kept his eyes on the raod. "as far as we know, Jeb got himself out. Angel just left you a note with the address."

"Why—"

"Because if Angel really did what she said, she'll find herself locked up with Jeb for a very long time." Teddy let out a breath. "And I don't want to see that happen."

"Okay." Iggy was the only one who acknowledged him.

"Five more minutes," teddy continued. "We're beding the rules here. I can only take Max in. Captain's orders. Max?"

"Yes, Teddy?"

"Tear the note so it's only the address." He turned the corner. "Stick the rest in my old coffee cup. I'll throw it out later."

I did as told. We pulled up in front of an abandoned looking building. Captain was already here with a few more agents, more arriving as we got out of the car. Nudge and Iggy stood with them, looking a little bewildered.

"Let's go." Teddy motioned to the door.

Captain led the way in, gun out, Teddy following.

I took in a deep breath, hoping that this wasn't some kind of terrible trap we were falling into.


	33. Chapter 33

**Silence – Chapter 33**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

"Wait."

Teddy turned to me, raising an eyebrow.

"Let me listen."

Captain nodded, and I stood, closing my eyes. "There're voices and electricity running upstairs."

Teddy pulled out his flashlight, outstretching his gun as we followed Captain up the stairs. A couple of agents I recognized followed closely behind us. We stopped on each floor, but I knew there wasn't going to be anything. I wanted to urge them forward, but I knew this was the way things had to be done, even though precious minutes were ticking away. The only thing I could keep thinking as I walked up those stairs was what if something happened to Angel and Fang and Gazzy? I knew it wasn't right to jump to worst case scenario already, but it was hard not to.

I had lost track of the stairs and the floors we had gone past. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest, and when we finally reached the floor where the electricity came from, I had to stop myself from bursting forward.

We crept forward slowly, and when we reached the door, Captain put his hand on the knob and turned it slowly.

"Max!" Gazzy sat on the floor, leaning up against the wall.

He was gripping his shoulder, blood dripping through his fingers. He coughed, more blood gushing out. I kneeled down next to him.

"Jeb…Jeb…" He motioned to the door next to him. "He was going to run. I tried…I tried…"

"Shh…" I tore off a piece of his shirt, pressing it against his shoulder. "We're going to get you help."

"Fang's in the next room." He shivered. "I'm…I'm sorry."

Captain was speaking quietly into his mic. A sign that help was coming for Gazzy.

"Go with Teddy." Captain holstered his gun. "Here, I'll keep pressure on it until the paramedics come."

Gazzy flinched as Captain started to apply pressure. I stood, ignoring the blood on my hands. Teddy pushed the next door open. Fang lay on a hospital looking bed, wires and tubes attached to him, a respirator over his face.

"He's not conscious." Teddy lowered his gun. "I…I'll have to get the paramedics to check if he's stable to move."

There were bandages over Fang's throat, and IV drip attached somewhere. Jeb had done, or at least attempted, what he said he would. Part of me hoped it worked.

"Max!"

Gazzy's voice tore my attention away from Fang.

"Jeb took Angel!" Gazzy said in a panic. "They headed up the stairs!"

Teddy started to run. I realized why Gazzy was remembering this now. The sound of a helicopter came from above..

We flew up the stairs, metaphorically, and tore open the door that led to the roof. Jeb stood in front of the helicopter, Angel next to him, blindfold over her eyes.

"JEB!" I shouted.

He turned, a gun in hand. Teddy had his own gun fixed on Jeb as we drew closer, slowly.

"I gave them what they wanted!" Jeb screamed over the roar. "Angel's mine!"

I unfurled my wings and propelled myself forward and onto Jeb.

"Max, no—" Teddy's voice was interrupted by a gunshot.

Tumbling to the ground, Jeb and I wrestled for a moment, and then he dropped the gun. The helicopter was taking off. Whoever Jeb had contracted to fly that was chickening out. Right now, they were the least of our problems.

"It's over, Jeb!" I pinned him against the concrete.

Teddy reached us, and I pulled Jeb off the ground, allowing Teddy to handcuff him.

"Max…" Teddy wobbled, reaching to pull the blindfold off of Angel. "Take Jeb down. And tell them to send some paramedics up here too."

Then he dropped to the ground.

Angel's mouth widened. "Oh my god, Max, I'm so sorry."

Jeb tried to seize the moment to break free, but I elbowed him in the back and he crumpled to the ground writhing in pain.

"Max!" Captain had caught up to us. I let go of Jeb, kneeling down next to Teddy.

"Hey, Teddy, you hang in there." I started to put pressure on the gunshot he had sustained to his leg. "We're going to get you help, okay?"

His eyes slipped in and out of focus. "Th—Thank you, Max."

"You're going to be okay." I forced his eyes to meet mine. "Don't you give up on me now!"

He held on until the paramedics came. Then I watched him go as they took him away on a stretcher.

* * *

I sat in the hospital. Fang still had a tube shoved down his throat, but the doctor said that he would be okay. Gazzy sat next to me, arm in a sling. Teddy was in surgery, but the doctor said he would be alright too.

"Jeb told us to choose." Gazzy stared at Fang. "My wings or Fang's voice. Actually, I think he was just going to not do anything anyway. Honestly, he would have killed me if you hadn't all arrived when you did. He was just messing around with Fang. I don't know what he did to Angel. He's still got a way of controlling her."

He paused, scratching his head.

"But I just figured that if somehow Jeb had a way to fix Fang, that it'd be better if Fang could talk. Then Fang wouldn't look so sad all the time." Gazzy's eyes fell to the floor. "Besides, then he can actually ask you to marry him."

I smoothed out Gazzy's hair and he leaned against me, eyes closed.

"Anyways," he breathed out. "Jeb just wanted Angel. If I hadn't woken when Angel was trying to get Fang to go with her, well, I don't know, never mind."

"Gazzy…"

He shook his head. "You don't have to say anything, Max. I just want everyone to be happy again."

I closed my eyes, wanting to cry, but Gazzy had already burst into tears.

"We're going to be okay now, Gaz." I wrapped my arm around him. "I promise."

It seemed like eternities when had stopped crying. Gazzy curled up in a ball against me, and I remembered way back to when Angel had first been kidnapped, how strong he had been back then, and how different he was now. I rubbed his back, and he flinched as my hand went over where the scars were.

"Sorry." I pulled my hand away.

"Sometimes," he breathed out sharply, "I pretend they're still there, even though I know it'll just make things worse."

Before I could say anything, the door burst open, Iggy and Nudge rushing in. Gazzy shut his eyes, ignoring them. Nudge took a seat next to Gazzy, her eyes fixated on Fang.

"Uhm, one of the agents told me that Teddy's gonna be okay." Iggy's eyes danced around the room. "They took Angel away with Jeb. Tell me Fang's going to be okay though."

I avoided looking up at Fang. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

"What did Jeb do to him?" Nudge's voice came out hollow sounding.

"I don't know."

Iggy finally took a seat and we sat for a long time, letting everything that had just happened sink in, our questions still unanswered, although I didn't think I wanted to know the answer to any of them.

* * *

**I'm working on the next chapter now. Once school is over, I'll have more time to write. Thanks for reading! I'll update ASAP**


	34. Chapter 34

**Silence – Chapter 34**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

I sat next to Fang's bed, holding his hand. He was breathing on his own now, finally not being sedated anymore. Gazzy was asleep on the couch, muttering in his sleep. Iggy and Nudge had gone to look for food. The TV was on with closed captioning on, some rerun of The Simpsons on.

There was a knock on the door and I let go of Fang's hand, telling whoever it was to come in.

It was Teddy, his leg in a brace. He came in wheeling himself in a wheelchair, a tired smile stretched across his face.

"Hey, how's your leg?" I managed to ask.

He came to a halt in front of me. "It's alright. It'll take some rehab to get me back on my feet, but you know, nothing that time won't fix. I'll probably end up being stuck behind a desk at Headquarters for a while, but it's not a big deal."

That didn't sound alright to me. "I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, Max." His smile was fading, eyes wandering to Fang. "Do you think what Jeb did to him will work?"

I desperately wanted it to, but I also knew Jeb's motives were questionable, and I knew I had fooled myself before into being hopeful about Jeb. "I don't know."

"Well, I'm sure he'll be okay." Teddy sounded like he was trying to convince himself too. "I just wanted to stop by and say hello. Anyway, I'll be around."

"Thanks, Teddy."

He nodded, and then wheeled himself backwards, turning, and disappearing out the door.

Time passed by slowly. FBI agents were in and out of the room, checking up on us, offering us food. Captain stopped by saying they were in the process of working things out with Angel, saying that maybe we could have her back by the end of the week. It appeared they had determined that Jeb had found a way to control her, that she hadn't acted on her own accord, and although I had a feeling Teddy had some doing in tweaking things in her favor, I was just glad that the end of this mess seemed to be somewhat closer.

I was about to doze off when Fang squeezed my hand. His eyes fluttered open, looking dazed.

"Hey," I squeezed his hand back, a shaking smile forming.

He touched his neck, fingers running over the new scars that had formed. The doctor had told me he wasn't sure what kind of damage Jeb had done, that time could only tell what would happen. Worst case scenario was that Fang still couldn't talk, which in perspective shouldn't have seemed so bad since he could be dead, to look at it morbidly.

"M…M…Max…"

I thought I had imagined it, that I had formed my name in his attempt to speak. His eyes came into focus finally, and he squeezed my hand again.

"D—Did he just talk?" Gazzy bolted to my side.

"W…" Fang cleared his throat, wincing, his words coming out hoarse. "Whatever Jeb did…"

Gazzy was practically jumping up and down. I had never seen him so excited before. Fang's eyes met mine.

"Why are you crying, Max?" His voice sounded strained as he reached to brush the hair out of my face. "Max…"

I gripped his hand, burying my face into his arm. "It's—It's so good to hear your voice again."

* * *

We took Fang home today. He kept his silence mostly, and I knew he was disappointed that his voice wasn't what it used to be. It was like it pained him to talk now, but at least being home would distract him. Although I knew he found comfort in knowing that Angel would be coming home at the end of the week, that the fact he could talk somewhat had raised everyone's spirits.

Nudge and Iggy were preparing dinner. I sat with Fang on the couch, and we watched Gazzy flip through the channels. He finally settled on some mindless cartoon. Fang slipped his arms around me, chin resting on my shoulder.

"Why are you so disappointed still?" Gazzy turned down the volume. "I don't understand. We're all so happy, and yet you still look like you'd rather crawl in bed and stay there forever."

Fang wove his fingers through mine, almost as if he was trying to distract himself. "Because you still can't fly, Angel still can't read our minds, Iggy's still blind. How should…how should my ability to talk, not even fully, make you happy?"

Gazzy shook his head. "You care too much about us, Fang."

"Maybe you care too much about me."

"Jeb would have killed me. You know that, Fang. Angel can live without seeing into our heads." Gazzy let out a sigh. "Iggy's content without seeing, and you know it'd only tear him apart if the two of you never talked again, not after all the suffering you did for him and Nudge."

Fang seemed speechless.

"Honestly," Gazzy went on, "If I had my wings still and someone said I had to give them up so you could talk again, I would have."

Fang opened his mouth, but Gazzy silenced him.

"You can be such an idiot sometimes, Fang." Gazzy laughed. "None of us would be alive without you. If anything, you deserve better."

And then before even I could say anything, he jumped off out of the armchair and headed down the hallway.

"You know," Max sighed. "I think he's right."

"Yeah," Fang muttered. "How long have we been waiting for this? For me to be able to talk and for the rest of us to be not on the edge of death?"

I closed my eyes, trying not to shiver as he spoke into my ear. "You know, Gazzy keeps talking about you and me getting married."

Fang smiled against my neck. "He asked me once if I wanted to marry you and I told him yes."

He threaded his fingers through mine and then spoke again. "When things settle down, we'll get married."

I smiled too now. The question never needed to be asked. We already knew.


	35. Chapter 35

**Silence – Chapter 35**

By MyNameIsCAL

-Max's POV-

I lay in bed with Fang later, his chin resting on my shoulder as we spoke. He was getting tired, I could tell, the way he was starting to sound like it strained him to keep talking.

"How's Teddy?" he finally asked. "He hasn't been around."

"Jeb shot him in the leg." I looked up at the ceiling. "He didn't give away how much damage was done."

Fang frowned.

"I'm—I'm sure he's fine." It surprised me Fang had been the one to bring Teddy up.

"I'm not upset with you, Max." He took my hand. "Teddy got you through when we were gone. I owe him actually."

"You don't have to pretend to like him though."

He shook his head. "It's not about that, Max. Any guy who spent that much time around you would have fallen for you. I get that."

I turned to face him. "Alright…"

"Teddy's a good guy." He let out a breath. "I don't want you to feel that you need to choose me, Max. I've been thinking about earlier. If you'd rather pick Teddy, I'd be okay with that."

"Teddy's just a friend, Fang. I could never think of him like that. Besides, Fang, I've always pictured the future with you."

Fang allowed himself to smile and he took my hand. "Me too."

I kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight, Fang. I love you."

"I love you too."

* * *

We hadn't really been out together since coming back home. I knew the FBI was still sending agents our way. Once a day Teddy would call to check up on us. It was like he felt it was the least he could do, especially since he was supposed to be staying home and resting. Some days he would have news for us too. They were preparing to deal with Jeb and find other people that were doing the same as him. Teddy kept saying he was going to play a big part in the investigation once the doctor cleared him to work again. I just hoped that it would work out for him because I was starting to get the impression that Teddy wasn't telling us the full extent of his wound.

Things seemed to be slipping into some kind of normalcy though. It was a relief, to be honest. The flock was getting along as it used to. Whatever mistakes we had made before were realized, and now it was time to move on now that the mess was behind us.

Most days, Iggy would cook. Sometimes we would help him, and other times it would just be him, Nudge, and Gazzy or Fang. I'd take Iggy to go to the grocery store once a week. Sometimes the others would tag along, but I think we just wanted our peace away from the rest of the world too.

I guess we were feeling a little cooped up though.

"I want to go out, Max," Gazzy said one morning.

"Then let's go out," Iggy remarked. "I'm tired of cooking and besides, we need to do some grocery shopping. We could get lunch or something."

"Alright, we'll leave at noon then," I agreed.

Everyone scattered from the kitchen to change and get ready. Fang was the last to rise from the table and I followed him to our bedroom.

It was a length drive back to civilization from our house. We rolled the windows down, taking in the fresh air. The weather was warming up now and I was going to take that as a good sign of things to come. After driving up and down a street full of restaurants, we finally settled on the Chinese restaurant on the corner.

Its menu claimed the restaurant was famous for its soup dumplings. We ordered some of those along with some noodles and pork, but after they gave us our first serving of the dumplings, we had to order more.

Our troubles seemed to slip away as we sat there eating. We were laughing and joking. Even Fang was quite the comedian trying to figure out how to use his chopsticks. He had a chopstick battle with Gazzy too where they had a sword fight across the table. We were loud and obnoxious, but by the time we were satisfied, the owner of the restaurant came out and thanked us personally for coming. He gave us some coupons and told us to come back again.

"We probably spend the most money today," Gazzy commented. He smiled childishly at me. "We're coming back though. He's won us over with his coupons!"

"Shhh, Gaz, he'll hear you!" Angel elbowed him in the ribs.

We paid our bill and left a generous tip. The owner saw us to the door and bid us farewell until next time.

"If we had stayed any longer," Iggy sniggered, "he would have taken photos of us and put it up on the wall with the pictures of celebrities that have been there."

Nudge rolled her eyes.

Our next stop was the grocery store.


End file.
